Song Zhu's True Identity

"Friend, although you are very powerful, this is Ink Cloud City, and this is the Su Clan."

"Are you threatening This Seat?" Li Xingluo's voice was low, yet carried a lethal edge.

"I would not dare, but is Your Excellency not also relying on your strength to bully the weak right now? If you refrain from interfering further today, the Su Clan is willing to offer appropriate compensation. What do you say?"

After searching multiple times to no avail, the middle-aged man simply gave up while simultaneously offering a price.

He also signaled for the shop assistant to slip out the back to find reinforcements, knowing full well he was no match for the Li Xingluo hidden in the shadows.

The moment the shop assistant stepped outside, a scream rang out. This sent the middle-aged man into a panic, cold sweat beading on his forehead.

"If you want This Seat to stay out of your affairs, that is fine. Give this young lady the medicinal herbs she requires. Otherwise, this room shall become your burial ground today."

The voice brooked no negotiation and carried a trace of anger; the middle-aged man knew his previous actions had infuriated this formidable expert.

Now that such a condition had been proposed, the other patrol members looked toward the middle-aged man; they had no desire to die as miserably as their captain.

Helpless, the middle-aged man dropped his defensive stance and personally retrieved the herbs Song Xue required from the counter behind him.

Song Xue watched everything unfold, finding it hard to believe. Seeing the middle-aged man hand over the exact herbs she needed, she didn't say a word and simply tucked them away.

"Many thanks, Senior!" Not knowing Li Xingluo's exact location, Song Xue could only bow gracefully in gratitude.

She placed the gold coins required for the herbs on the counter and, while walking toward the door, added, "Our Song Clan does not owe the Su Clan any money."

In truth, Song Xue could have just taken the herbs and left; these people would not have dared to stop her.

Song Xue walked out of the shop with her head held high. Not until her figure vanished into the street did the pressure weighing down on the middle-aged man finally dissipate.

"Are you still there, Your Excellency?" the middle-aged man asked tentatively. When no response came for a long time, he let out a sigh of relief as if granted a reprieve, though the patrol members were not so lucky—a fierce tongue-lashing was inevitable.

Song Xue did not dare linger. She quickened her pace, returned to the Song Clan, and soon arrived outside the room where Li Xingluo was staying, only to see him sitting on the veranda.

Song Xue had thought of Li Xingluo the moment she needed saving, but seeing him here now, his aura steady and nothing out of the ordinary, she felt confused.

"Brother Luo Xing, did you go out just now?"

Li Xingluo paused, shook his head, and said bluntly, "I haven't been out. Why? Did something happen?"

Song Xue, who had been full of anticipation, felt a wave of disappointment upon hearing this.

Seeing the dejection on Song Xue's face, Li Xingluo thought to himself: Miss Song Xue, you are a good girl, but my heart already belongs to another, and I do not wish for you to know too much.

"It's nothing. By the way, I bought the herbs needed to treat Grandfather's illness."

Still looking quite dejected, Song Xue took the herbs out of her storage ring.

Li Xingluo nodded slightly, took the herbs, and said nothing more.

"Brother Luo Xing, then I will head back now."

Song Xue hung her head, lacking her usual spirit. Watching her back, Li Xingluo felt a pang of unease in his heart.

Hearing the door close, Song Xue turned back and looked quietly at Li Xingluo's room. Her eyes were filled with complex emotions; she lowered her head, then looked up again as if contemplating something, before leaving in quiet sorrow.

At the dead of night, a figure flashed across the small courtyard and, in the blink of an eye, reached the roof of the room where Li Xingluo was staying.

A roof tile was lifted, but the intruder suddenly found a pair of eyes staring directly at him from below. Cursing his luck, he prepared to flash away.

A streak of red light shot from the room straight toward the roof, instantly blasting a large hole through it.

"Since you've come, why the rush to leave?"

The red light landed in front of the dark shadow, forcing him to stumble back and turn around.

Li Xingluo looked on with a half-smile, watching the shadow with a playful gaze.

The shadow had not expected Li Xingluo's vigilance to be so high. Unable to escape, his eyes filled with resentment and a hint of hostility.

"How did you know there was someone on the roof?"

"It's quite simple." Li Xingluo flicked his fingers, revealing thin, silver-white threads as fine as hair wrapped around them; they were impossible to see without close observation.

Under the light from the room, Li Xingluo gently tugged the silver threads, and looking closely, one could see the entire room was controlled by this web.

"So that's how it is."

Seeing this, the man in black understood why he had been discovered despite his extreme caution.

"Should I call you foolish or stupid? Even without these traps, did you really think you could kill me in one strike? If you couldn't, wouldn't you have exposed your identity?"

Faced with Li Xingluo's mockery, the man in black's eyes grew visibly angrier, his chest heaving beneath his black mask.

"Don't look at me like that. With your strength, it was never going to happen. But now, I am quite curious what kind of face lies beneath that mask."

Li Xingluo flicked his wrist, showing no regard for the man in black, his tone filled with mockery.

Knowing he could not escape easily, the man in black stopped pretending and set his stance, preparing for a fierce battle with Li Xingluo.

The night was dark and the wind was high, with moonlight spilling over the roof like water. Two figures flashed about like ghosts, standing opposite each other with battle qi surging around them.

Li Xingluo's green robes fluttered, his battle qi wrapping around his body like crimson flames, while the man in black's battle qi rolled like black mist. Their eyes met, instantly sparking with intense hostility.

Li Xingluo struck first. His figure blurred as he rushed toward the man in black like a gale, his battle qi condensing into a sharp blade that pierced the air with a shrill whistle.

The man in black dodged to the side and simultaneously unleashed a palm strike, sending black battle qi surging forward like a tidal wave.

The two exchanged blows, their moves fierce and sharp, the light from their clashing battle qi flickering in the night sky.

The roof tiles were shattered by the shockwaves of their battle qi, raining down in fragments.

Li Xingluo took an unorthodox approach, suddenly leaping into the air with a sword strike like a rainbow piercing the sun, aiming straight for the throat of the man in black. The man in black remained calm in the face of danger, shaking his arms to form a shield of black battle qi that blocked the lethal strike.

Their battle intensified, their battle qi weaving together in the air to form a brilliant curtain of light. Sweat slid down their foreheads, but their eyes remained resolute, as if they had forgotten everything around them.

In the heat of the fierce engagement, Li Xingluo gradually gained the upper hand. He seized an opening in the man in black's defense, his sword thrusting out like lightning to pierce through the opponent's guard. The man in black stumbled back several steps, spitting out a mouthful of blood.

However, the man in black did not give up; he wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and readjusted his breathing. He unleashed his final trump card, condensing all the battle qi in his body into a massive black sphere and launching it toward Li Xingluo.

Li Xingluo dared not underestimate his opponent, going all out as his red battle qi formed the phantom of a giant sword behind him.

Gripping the Wind Spirit Split-Form Sword, he charged headlong into the black sphere.

In the end, the giant sword and the black sphere collided in mid-air, producing a heaven-shaking, earth-shattering roar. Once the light faded, Li Xingluo stood upon the roof, holding the Wind Spirit Split-Form Sword and standing against the wind like an exiled immortal.

The situation for the man in black was far worse; he knelt on one knee upon the roof, his black face mask torn away by the lingering power of the giant sword, revealing his true face.