Extra: Shenzhou Broken Sword Record IV

Northern Desert.

A man and a woman rode their own horses at full speed through the desert. The man was Ma Feima, deputy sect master of Sky Peak's Tai Xu Sword Sect, and the husband of Lin Zhaoyu, the sect master of the Tai Xu Sword Sect.

Calling him Sect Master Lin's husband, however, was rather laughable in truth.

Ma Feima was the sixth of the Seven Swords of Tai Xu, wielder of the Xuanyuan Sword, Crimson Shadow, and bore the title Chasing Steed Sword. Though he had married his senior sister Lin Zhaoyu, the one he loved and worried about most had always been his second senior sister, Sumei.

After learning that Yijian Villa had been destroyed and that Chi Yuan was suspected to have appeared, he had ridden day and night to Wushuang Sect to inform Sumei. Yet an old acquaintance had arrived at Wushuang Sect before him and told Sumei a more complete account of what had happened.

Thus, Sumei had asked him to catch up with that old acquaintance, who had already set out for the Northern Desert. Once he caught up, the two of them would travel together to find Cheng Ling Shuang, the strongest of the Seven Swords of Tai Xu—the Freedom Sword.

Cheng Ling Shuang had retired to the Northern Desert many years ago. Today, Ma Feima, who had fought across the land without finding an equal, was publicly recognized by the martial world as the greatest under heaven. But Ma Feima knew clearly that he was not as invincible as everyone praised him to be. The girl riding through the desert beside him was a dangerous figure who demanded his utmost vigilance.

The girl called herself Jiang Muyue. Her appearance was exactly the same as it had been over a decade ago. That alone would not have made Ma Feima wary. What was truly frightening was that she had once taken a strike of Chi Yuan's Tai Xu Sword God head-on.

Ma Feima asked himself whether he could withstand that sword even now. The answer was no.

Sumei had another purpose in sending him after Jiang Muyue: she wanted him to keep an eye on her. Though both Sumei and Ma Feima believed Chi Yuan had destroyed Yijian Villa, Jiang Muyue still had to be guarded against.

Noticing the occasionally watchful glances from the person beside her, Jiang Muyue gave a disdainful laugh. "Ma Yanqing, stop looking at me with those eyes of yours. You cannot even manage the most basic pretense. When I first met Chi Yuan, you were still God knows what."

Ma Feima's expression turned cold. "Jiang Muyue, Sumei respects you, and Lin Zhaoyu fears you, but that does not mean I fear you. Mention the name Ma Yanqing one more time, and do not blame me for turning hostile!"

Ma Feima had once been called Ma Yanqing. Loathing the past Sumei had created for him, he had announced to everyone that he was changing his name to Ma Feima when he married Lin Zhaoyu.

"Hmph..." Jiang Muyue could not be bothered to argue with a madman over such things. She merely said, "People should know their own limits. And you actually brought up Lin Zhaoyu? I thought you had never treated her as anything of importance."

Crimson Shadow left its sheath, carrying the force of mountains collapsing and earth splitting apart. It seemed as though the girl before it would perish in an instant, yet she merely raised her hand without even sparing Ma Feima a glance.

She caught Crimson Shadow between two fingers. The sword intent it carried vanished completely the moment it touched Jiang Muyue. The two continued racing across the desert on horseback, yet an eerie balance had formed between them.

"Take a guess," Jiang Muyue said carelessly. "How much effort do you think it would take for me to snap your Crimson Shadow?"

Ma Feima tried to pull Crimson Shadow back, only to find that his sword would not budge at all. This made him increasingly restless.

After a while, Jiang Muyue released it. Ma Feima sheathed his sword, and the wariness in his gaze toward Jiang Muyue deepened considerably.

People feared the unknown. Even when facing his former master, Immortal Chi Yuan, Ma Feima could maintain his surging fighting spirit, because he understood Chi Yuan well enough. Even if he did not know how strong Chi Yuan truly was, he knew why Chi Yuan acted.

But Jiang Muyue was different. Every movement she made seemed purposeful, yet also seemed entirely purposeless, as if she did things merely because she found them amusing. Someone like that, combined with strength too deep to fathom, was the most terrifying kind of person.

At the same time, elsewhere.

"Big Sister, I missed you so much..." Jiang Wanru held her arms out toward her sister.

Yet Jiang Wanxi held the Xuanyuan Sword, Feng Qingyang, pointed at Jiang Wanru and shouted sharply, "Who exactly are you?! Wanru died long ago. I watched her being buried with my own eyes. How dare you impersonate her before me?"

"Big Sister, are you going to kill me again?" Jiang Wanru's expression was sorrowful. "Back then, you were willing to stake everything to kill our master for my sake. Why are you pointing your sword at me now?"

Jiang Wanxi's pupils contracted. Everything Jiang Wanru had said was an internal matter known only to the Seven Swords of Tai Xu. Could it be... that the person before her really was Wanru?

"Big Sister, do you remember? The days we spent on Mount Tai Xu..." Jiang Wanru began recounting the past, when the Seven Swords of Tai Xu had still studied under Chi Yuan. With every sentence, another fraction of Jiang Wanxi's doubts faded away.

She was certain that no one else could know these things.

"Wanru... is it really you?" Jiang Wanxi asked in a trembling voice, and the sword in her hand slowly lowered.

Jiang Wanru merely looked at Jiang Wanxi with a faintly sorrowful smile. Her outstretched arms dropped as well. Standing several yards away from Jiang Wanxi, she made no further movements and spoke no further words.

She simply watched Jiang Wanxi.

It was precisely that gaze that gradually dispelled Jiang Wanxi's doubts. She walked before Jiang Wanru and reached out to stroke the other woman's pale face, made so by her deviation in cultivation.

But the icy sensation at her fingertips abruptly cleared her mind. In the next instant, Jiang Wanru embraced Jiang Wanxi and whispered in her ear, "Big Sister, I am so lonely. We were always together. Why did you leave me?"

Jiang Wanxi had already confirmed that someone was using her sister's body. The rage and grief in her heart nearly drove her mad. She wanted to use Feng Qingyang at once to slice the person behind it into a thousand pieces, yet she could not bear to hurt Jiang Wanru, fearing that Jiang Wanru would leave her once more.

In the instant Jiang Wanxi hesitated, purple threads emerged from the shadows of the two women and wound around Jiang Wanxi's body.

By the time Jiang Wanxi noticed them, she could no longer break free. She recognized these purple threads. They were the secret art used by the person calling herself Jiang Muyue, who had joined the Seven Swords of Tai Xu in killing their master years ago.

"Big Sister, come with me this time. Let us never be separated again, alright?" Jiang Wanru hugged Jiang Wanxi tighter as the threads began binding them both, dragging them into the shadows beneath their feet.

Jiang Wanxi looked at her sister. After a long while, Feng Qingyang fell from her hand and reverted to the Xuanyuan Sword's original form. She embraced Jiang Wanru as well and choked out, "Alright... Wanru, this time, Big Sister will go with you. We sisters will never part again."

The shadows swallowed them completely. Before long, the dark mass began to writhe, and two pale-faced women emerged from within. Their faces were identical, and they held each other's hands, as though nothing could ever separate them again.

Their gazes turned toward Sky Peak, and each picked up the other's Xuanyuan Sword.

At this time, in Europe.

A girl with cat ears and a cat tail sped toward Shenzhou at a velocity beyond ordinary imagination. She kept muttering, "Hua, I already know who Midrash is. We have lost too many companions already. You must stay safe!"

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