The Price of Being Old... Was That I, Too, Was a Sacrifice

Eight hundred years ago, when he was still a boy, he had loved practicing swordsmanship beneath the afternoon sun. Back then, his master had said that his swordplay was as nimble as light, and he shouldn't take up the ways of an assassin.

Later, his master died, and their family was wiped out by their enemies. He survived, hiding in the shadows of a cellar for three days and nights. When he emerged, he became "Blood Shadow."

From then on, he never stood beneath the sun again.

The Dark Domain began to shudder violently and contract. The black markings across the surface of the nameless man's shadow-demon form flickered in and out, as if two forces were clashing fiercely within him.

"I... I..." He clutched his head and let out a pained growl.

Su Qingyin sighed. Her delicate hand settled on the strings once more, and this time she plucked a single, gentle note.

"Pure Heart Benevolent Mantra: Final Verse—Soul's Return."

The note drifted over the nameless man like a gentle breeze.

His shadow-demon form melted away like snow beneath the sun, revealing the ordinary-looking man in black once more. He slumped to the ground, his face pale as paper. The vertical eye between his brows had vanished, and his eyes were blank.

"I... lost," he rasped.

He hadn't lost to strength, but to... the heart.

Blood had stained half of Su Qingyin's sleeve, yet her expression remained serene. She put away her zither and gave a formal bow. "You were most gracious."

In the third match, Melodious Fairy Su Qingyin emerged victorious.

Silence filled the spectators' stands.

There had been no earth-shaking clash, no brutal bloodshed, yet this battle had shaken the crowd more than the first two.

Music had faced Shadow Strike, and in the end, an attack