The Great Tide Approaches

A moment later.

Deng Baiyi sat on the bed with a complicated expression, looking at the white-clad youth leaning halfway against the windowsill.

"This is what you meant by... sleeping while holding her?"

"What else?"

Xie Xuanyi looked out at the street below and said calmly, "Jiang Huang is small, but she sleeps terribly. Sorry for the trouble—bear with her a little more tonight."

Only after lifting the bed curtains did Deng Baiyi realize there was another person in the room.

Of course.

This little one had slept the entire time, and Deng Baiyi had nearly overlooked her existence...

"And what about you?" Deng Baiyi carefully tucked Jiang Huang beneath the covers, still somewhat uneasy.

"I don't need sleep."

Xie Xuanyi shook his head. "You've been worn out from all the travel these past few days. Get some proper rest. There'll be more 'trouble' ahead."

"More trouble?"

Deng Baiyi tensed. She had thought arriving in Carp Tide City marked the end of their journey, but now it seemed that was not the case.

"Just some 'minor trouble.' Don't worry. I'll fulfill every promise I made before. I'll arrange a place for your father to stay in the imperial city, and find you a reliable teacher."

Xie Xuanyi lowered his eyes and said slowly:

"These past few days, you've already opened more than half your apertures."

"Before long, you'll enter the Second Realm and personally refine Qi. That rate of cultivation would be considered quite good even in a great sect. With guidance from a famous teacher, you'll soon become a pillar among the younger generation..."

Hearing this, Deng Baiyi silently lowered her head, concealing the flicker of disappointment in her eyes.

Xie Zhen was sending her away...

At that thought.

Everything Xie Xuanyi said afterward, his cultivation advice—

Passed through her ears like a night wind through an open hall.

She gave a few perfunctory hums in response.

Xie Xuanyi saw that Deng Baiyi was distracted and said no more. Though they remained in the same room, neither spoke again.

The small guest room sank into a long silence.

Perhaps because she had traveled for too long, Deng Baiyi, sitting on the bed and letting her thoughts run wild, soon fell into a deep sleep. Half-conscious, she even murmured in her dreams.

Xie Xuanyi, seated by the window, shook his head. He rose, drew the curtains around her, then silently closed the door and left.

Night fell, yet Carp Tide City was brilliantly lit and livelier than ever.

Wearing a mask and a different face, Xie Xuanyi walked alone through the bustling streets.

His current face was exceedingly ordinary.

Walking down the street, he would not attract anyone's attention.

Ten years away from the mortal world.

Carp Tide City remained much as it had been.

There was no shortage here of martial artists wandering the jianghu and performing for a living. Their external martial arts were superb; every one of them was a wandering hero with a unique skill. Some smashed stones against their chests, some breathed fire, while crowds of tourists around them tossed copper coins as rewards.

Had it been ten years ago.

He would surely have been one of those spectators in the crowd, watching the show and tossing coins.

But Xie Xuanyi now had no interest in watching.

His gaze crossed streets and alleys, passed over the teeming crowd, and fell upon the tall tower east of Carp Tide City. Flocks of birds swept across the heavens, flames surged into the clouds, and distant tides battered the dikes... battering Xie Xuanyi's Heart Lake as well.

Buzz!

Within his Heart Lake, the long-absent clang of a flying sword rang out!

The strongest bond in the world was that between a cultivator and their life-bound object.

Once refined.

The cultivator and the life-bound object would be bound together forever.

Life-bound, life-bound... the weight of those two words was heavier than a thousand pounds.

Xie Xuanyi's sword was named Chronic Ailment.

If Chronic Ailment remained, so did he.

If Chronic Ailment broke, he would perish.

A sword cultivator lived alongside his sword. A sword cultivator could die but never kneel; a flying sword could break but never bend.

Xie Xuanyi headed toward the tall tower of Carp Tide City. The clamor around him gradually faded, and the lights slowly went out. At last, he arrived before a great dike. Ahead lay black tides, crashing and sweeping up countless white foams through the night like roaring lions.

Countless waves battered the dike.

Wild breakers churned.

A fierce wind struck his face.

Yet after arriving in person, Xie Xuanyi could no longer hear the flying sword within his Heart Lake.

He frowned and focused his senses...

The world was incomparably noisy.

His Heart Lake was utterly still.

There was no sound from Chronic Ailment.

"The great tide is coming soon."

A calm voice suddenly sounded from the darkness.

Xie Xuanyi looked to his side.

Before the dike's stone railing stood a figure, though he did not know when it had appeared. That figure resembled a stone carving, as though it had merged with the night itself...

But the instant their eyes met, every hair on Xie Xuanyi's body stood on end.

Though standing in darkness, the man wore white robes and had white hair!

Some people required no meeting... for their identities to be known.

There was no doubt that this was the "mysterious Daoist" who had made a deal with Deng Baiyi.

Xie Xuanyi stamped the ground and retreated, flinging out a talisman as his opening move!

With a tremendous boom.

A huge blaze exploded through the darkness. This Primordial Breath Talisman, containing phoenix blood, ignited in the night. Billowing flames expanded into a sphere thirty yards across, yet the figure at its center did not evade. He simply endured the burning flames. Not only did he show no pain, but his eyes even held a trace of amusement.

"Xie Xuanyi, aren't you a sword cultivator?"

This mysterious Daoist was younger than Xie Xuanyi had imagined. Though his beard and hair were white, he seemed only middle-aged.

The white-robed Daoist spoke softly. "The Daoist arts of talismans are of no use against me."

The next moment.

Golden Qi shot forth as Xie Xuanyi retreated, his fingers pressed together and pointed at the figure standing in the darkness.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

There was very little Qi within his major apertures.

But if Xie Xuanyi insisted on using it, he could still squeeze out a little.

With a crisp crack.

The flying sword condensed from Golden Qi instantly pierced through the void and arrived directly before the white-robed Daoist. Facing this strike, the Daoist no longer endured it head-on, but slightly turned aside and evaded... The flying sword instantly slashed back, colliding with his great white robe and erupting in a fierce clash of metal.

The Daoist was like a wisp of willow floss, drifting away with the wind. He lightly swept a great distance away, then settled upon the river's surging surface.

He smiled and asked, "The killing intent in that sword is nearly overflowing. Between you and me, why must it come to this?"

Xie Xuanyi remained expressionless.

He stared fixedly at the white-robed Daoist before him and said coldly, "What do you mean, between you and me... Are we that familiar?"

"Some people remain strangers even after growing white-haired together; some become old friends at first meeting."

The Daoist still wore a face bright as spring, speaking gently and softly. "There is more than black and white in this world... Xie Xuanyi, even if you and I cannot be friends, we need not become enemies."

Those words did nothing to improve Xie Xuanyi's expression.

He continued to stare fixedly at the white-robed Daoist...

Xie Xuanyi's reason told him.

This white-robed Daoist was an exceedingly dangerous existence, with cultivation so unfathomably deep that no bottom could be seen.

Yet his Heart Lake had not sounded any "warning."

That was terrifying.

The white-robed Daoist smiled. "Even taking ten thousand steps back, if you dislike me, I still saved your life. Now that we've met, why draw blades and swords?"

"So..."

Xie Xuanyi clenched the Golden Qi sword in his palm and said coldly, "The one who laid out the scheme in Jade Pearl Town and calculated everything up to now... was you?"

Ever since awakening in Jade Pearl Town, every step he took had felt as though invisible threads of fate were being tugged.

He had always suspected this white-robed Daoist was responsible... Originally, Xie Xuanyi had worried that the one plotting behind the scenes was deeply hidden and would refuse to show himself no matter what.

But now it seemed.

This fellow was much more "frank" than Xie Xuanyi had imagined.

"How can that be called calculation?"

The white-robed Daoist revealed a sorrowful expression and sighed with emotion. "Thinking back to the battle ten years ago, after fighting and retreating a thousand miles, you had already exhausted your oil and run dry. The apertures in your body were shattered beyond repair. In those circumstances, even had you not cast yourself into the sea, you would have been no different from a dead man. Tell me, how great was the grace of saving that life? If I took a few things in return... that would not be excessive, would it?"

Xie Xuanyi frowned.

The white-robed Daoist smiled. "You inherited the true teachings of Lotus Peak at the Great Grain Sword Palace. Your soul arts are peerless beneath heaven, allowing you to foresee what has yet to happen... Whether what I said before was true or false, you already know perfectly well. If I truly meant to plot against you, then why did the warning from the tugging threads of fate vanish after you left Taian City?"

Indeed.

After killing Xu You, the uneasy feeling from the tugging threads of fate had vanished.

But that was not enough to put Xie Xuanyi at ease.

He was certain he had seen this face for the first time in his life...

To revive the dead and regrow flesh upon bones—what could even a Daluo Golden Immortal do beyond that!

How could he possibly have never heard of someone like this?

"Who... exactly are you?"

Xie Xuanyi stared at the white-robed Daoist and asked the deepest doubt in his heart.

"This is our first meeting."

The white-robed Daoist gave a slight bow and a salute, then said gently, "This poor Daoist is Lu Yuzhen. I have but a trifling reputation, not worth mentioning."