"Friend, you may be powerful, but this is Ink Cloud City, the territory of the Su Clan."
"Are you threatening me?" Li Xingluo's voice was low, yet carried a deadly edge.
"I wouldn't dare. But aren't you relying on your strength to bully the weak, too? If you stop interfering today, the Su Clan is willing to offer suitable compensation. Would that be acceptable?"
After searching several times to no avail, the middle-aged man gave up and named a price.
He also signaled for the shop attendants to slip out the back and find reinforcements. He knew he was no match for Li Xingluo, who was hidden nearby.
The shop attendant had barely stepped outside when a scream rang out. The middle-aged man was so terrified that cold sweat poured down his forehead.
"If you want me to stay out of your business, that's fine. Give this young lady the medicinal herbs she needs. Otherwise, this room will become your burial place today."
His voice brooked no negotiation and brimmed with anger. The middle-aged man knew his actions just now had enraged this formidable figure.
Now that he had set out these conditions, the other members of the patrol team all looked toward the middle-aged man. They didn't want to die as horribly as their captain.
The middle-aged man had no choice. He lowered his guard and personally took the medicinal herbs Song Xue needed from the cabinet behind him.
Song Xue found everything unfolding before her unbelievable. When she saw that the herbs the middle-aged man handed over were indeed the ones she needed, she said nothing and simply put them away.
"Thank you, senior!" Song Xue didn't know Li Xingluo's exact location, so she could only bow gracefully.
At the same time, she placed the coins for the herbs on the counter. Then, as she headed toward the door, she said:
"Our Song Clan doesn't owe the Su Clan any money."
In truth, Song Xue could have simply taken the herbs and left. These people wouldn't have dared stop her.
Song Xue strode out of the shop without a care. Only after her figure vanished into the street did the pressure on the middle-aged man finally dissipate.
"Are you still here?" the middle-aged man ventured to ask. When no answer came for a long while, he let out a breath of relief. The patrol members, however, were in for it; a thorough scolding was inevitable.
Song Xue didn't dare linger. She hurried back to the Song Clan and soon reached the room where Li Xingluo was staying. There, she saw him sitting in the corridor.
The first person Song Xue had thought of when she needed help just now was Li Xingluo. Yet he was here now, his breathing steady and nothing out of the ordinary.
"Big Brother Luo Xing, did you go out just now?"
Li Xingluo froze, then shook his head and answered frankly, "I didn't go out. What happened?"
Song Xue had been full of anticipation, but at his words, her expression fell.
Seeing Song Xue's dejected face, Li Xingluo thought to himself: Miss Song Xue, you're a good girl, but there's someone in my heart. I don't want you to find out too much.
"It's nothing. Oh, right—the medicinal herbs needed to treat Grandfather's illness. I bought them."
Song Xue still looked downcast as she took the herbs out of her Storage Ring.
Li Xingluo nodded slightly and accepted the herbs without saying a word.
"Big Brother Luo Xing, I'll head back now."
Song Xue's head drooped. She'd lost all the energy she'd had earlier. Watching her retreating figure, Li Xingluo felt troubled, too.
When she heard the door close, Song Xue turned around and quietly looked toward Li Xingluo's room. Her eyes brimmed with complicated emotions. She lowered her head, then raised it again, seeming to ponder something before leaving in silent sorrow.
Late that night, a figure flashed across the courtyard. In the next instant, it was on the roof of the room where Li Xingluo was staying.
A roof tile was lifted. Beneath it, the intruder found a pair of eyes staring straight back at him. He thought, Damn! and sprang away.
A streak of red light shot from the room and crashed into the roof, blasting a huge hole through it in an instant.
"Since you're already here, why leave?"
The red light landed in front of the shadow. The shadow was forced to retreat a step, leaving him no choice but to turn around.
Li Xingluo gazed steadily at the shadow with a faint, amused smile.
The shadow hadn't expected Li Xingluo to be so alert. Now that he couldn't get away, his eyes turned resentful, with a hint of hostility.
"How did you know someone was on the roof?"
"It's simple." Li Xingluo waggled a finger. A thread, as fine as a strand of silver hair, was wrapped around it—almost impossible to see without looking closely.
In the light spilling from the room, Li Xingluo gently tugged the silver thread. Following it with the eye revealed that the entire room was strung with these threads.
"I see."
The masked figure understood why he had been discovered. No wonder he'd been so careful and still got caught.
"Should I call you foolish or stupid? Even without these precautions, you didn't think you could kill me with one move, did you? And if you failed, wouldn't you have exposed yourself?"
At Li Xingluo's taunt, the masked figure's eyes grew visibly angrier. His black face covering rose and fell with his hurried breaths.
"Don't look at me like that. With your abilities, you couldn't do it. But now I'm curious what kind of face is hiding under that mask."
Li Xingluo turned his wrist, not taking the masked figure seriously. He was more amused than anything.
Knowing he couldn't escape easily, the masked figure stopped pretending. He took up a fighting stance, ready to battle Li Xingluo.
The night was dark and the wind strong, while moonlight spilled like water across the rooftop. Two figures flickered into view like ghosts, facing each other as Dou Qi surged around them.
Li Xingluo's green robes fluttered, and his Dou Qi coiled around his body like red flames. The masked figure's Dou Qi roiled like black mist. Their gazes met, and sparks flew in an instant.
Li Xingluo struck first. His figure flashed as he charged at the masked figure like a gale, the Dou Qi in his hand condensing into a sharp blade that stabbed toward his opponent with a piercing whistle.
The masked figure dodged to the side and struck out with a palm. Black Dou Qi surged toward Li Xingluo like a crashing wave.
They traded blows, their moves fierce and swift. The light from their colliding Dou Qi flashed across the night sky.
The roof tiles shattered under the aftershock of their Dou Qi and rained down around them.
Li Xingluo's sword took an unexpected angle. He suddenly leaped into the air, his blade sweeping across the sky like a rainbow piercing the sun as he aimed for the masked figure's throat. The masked figure kept his cool in the face of danger, thrusting out both arms as black Dou Qi formed a shield that blocked the deadly strike.
Their battle grew more and more intense. Dou Qi wove through the air, forming a brilliant curtain of light. Sweat slid down their foreheads, but their eyes remained steadfast, as if they had forgotten everything around them.
As the fierce battle continued, Li Xingluo gradually gained the upper hand. He seized an opening in the masked figure's defense and thrust his sword out like lightning, breaking through. The masked figure staggered back a few steps and spat out a mouthful of blood.
But the masked figure didn't give up. He wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and steadied his breathing. Then he unleashed his final secret move, condensing all his Dou Qi into a huge black sphere and hurling it at Li Xingluo.
Li Xingluo didn't dare underestimate him. He gave it everything he had, and red Dou Qi formed the phantom image of a giant sword behind him.
Gripping the Wind Spirit Split-Form Sword, he charged toward the black sphere.
At last, the giant sword and the black sphere collided in midair with a world-shaking boom. When the light faded, Li Xingluo stood atop the roof, holding the Wind Spirit Split-Form Sword as he faced the wind like an immortal banished from heaven.
The masked figure had fared far worse. He knelt on one knee atop the roof, and the black mask on his face had been torn apart by the force of the giant sword, revealing his true appearance.
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