The night was washed clean, a silver moon hanging overhead.
In the courtyard left in ruins by their battle, the three men sat facing one another around a stone table.
Their wine bowls clinked with clear, crisp notes.
Gu Moxie tipped back his head and drained his bowl of strong liquor, then set it heavily on the stone table and wiped his mouth.
His gaze settled on Li Bufan, and he finally asked the question that had lingered in his mind.
"Brother Li, why didn't you use any martial techniques in that fight?"
"Even if you didn't use Earth Tier techniques, you could have used some Spirit Tier ones."
"With a martial technique behind it, that saber strike of yours would have been several times stronger. Even together, Meng and I might not have withstood it."
Li Bufan's hand paused slightly around his wine bowl.
The liquor swayed gently inside, rippling in the moonlight.
After a moment of silence, he drained what remained.
"Brother Gu, it wasn't that I didn't want to. I couldn't."
Gu Moxie frowned, his wine bowl suspended in midair.
"What do you mean?"
Meng Xinghe had been looking down into his wine, but raised his head at those words.
His gaze lingered on Li Bufan's face before shifting to Gu Moxie.
He opened his mouth as if to speak, then hesitated.
In the end, he merely downed his wine in one gulp and spoke in a low voice.
"Brother Gu, when we were defending Stilltide City against the sea demons..."
"My father's death wasn't the only thing that happened."
Meng Xinghe's voice grew strained, his knuckles paling around the rim of his bowl.
"Brother Li was badly injured too."
"In that battle, he burned his golden core essence to kill that sea demon."
"Although Elder Wang