Three-Foot White Silk
Li You's sword looked light, but it was surprisingly heavy. Zhao Yifan tried his best to activate the Red Gauze Sword, but he was still knocked away. Fortunately, Li You did not press his advantage. He watched as the red light enveloped Zhao Yifan, his eyes flashing, before he made his move.
Zhao Yifan struggled to stay upright, cursing inwardly. Had the information from his previous life been wrong? Li You's strength far exceeded Zhao Yifan's imagination, and it began to jolt his smugness back to reality.
This is not the era where celestial beings will be everywhere in a few years. The celestial beings of this time can all be called masters of their generation. They have created a path with their talents when there was no path available.
These celestial beings are not the kind who have a ready-made path to follow a few years later. Their realm and their methods are beyond ordinary people. If he hadn't occasionally held back intentionally or unintentionally, Zhao Yifan would have been stabbed to death by the other party's longsword long ago.
"Damn it," Zhao Yifan thought to himself, panting heavily as he channeled all his inner energy into the Red Gauze Sword. After just a few moves, he was completely unable to hold on any longer and had no choice but to fight to the death.
Zhao Yifan, wielding the Red Gauze Sword ablaze, rushed toward the composed Li You. Something inexplicable flashed through the air, and his vision went completely dark. Then, two beams of light flashed, followed by two loud "bangs."
Two beams of light flashed, and vision returned to normal. Li You looked at his longsword, which now had two hot notches. He casually stuck the sword into the ground, pulled it, and inhaled his inner energy. Zhao Yifan, who was lying on the ground, felt the Red Gauze Sword slip from his hand.
Holding the Red Gauze Sword, Li You's inner energy flickered, and he quickly grasped all its Red Gauze Sword, exclaiming in admiration, "What a treasure!"
"Was that Twin Flow Swallows? It really is a move that's both divine and demonic, but it's a pity you haven't mastered it." Li You's face showed longing. The court's intelligence agency had already reported some relevant information, including the move that Lu Li used that day: Twin Flow Swallows.
Li You sighed and was about to finish off Zhao Yifan with a single sword stroke, but then he froze, a look of mixed emotions flashing across his face, a look that was hard to tell whether it was joy or sorrow. He slowly turned around and saw the young man in a black cloak with a smile on his face.
"Our Li You has met the Black Heaven Hall. It's been a long time since I've heard of you." Li You's face showed neither joy nor sorrow, just as it had decades ago.
"Our family is trying to show that we are detached from worldly desires and indifferent to worldly affairs. But you deliberately delayed for me to arrive. That doesn't seem like the behavior of someone who is detached from worldly desires and indifferent to worldly affairs." Lu Li's words made Zhao Yifan, who was lying on the ground, realize that his master had indeed arrived long ago.
"That's true. In life, everyone has things they care about. Our family is just used to it." Li You sighed softly. How could one not care about some things?
Decades ago, when he went to the capital to take the imperial examination, he met that singing woman in the bamboo forest and became extremely infatuated with her.
The woman came from an official family. She didn't say why she came to the capital this time, but judging from the sad tune she played, she must have been unhappy. When they arrived in the capital and parted, the look in their eyes when they looked at each other could actually say a lot.
But they had no choice; the difference in their social status was too great. One was a young lady from an official family, while the other was just a poor student taking the exam. Everything could only be left in that one glance between them.
Later, he offended powerful figures in the capital and was tricked into entering the palace, losing his dignity as a man. He should have died then, but when he unexpectedly saw that nobleman holding a white silk ribbon, they both saw each other at their most wretched moment.
She didn't want to live in the cold palace; she wanted to die. He didn't want to live with that identity either; he wanted to die too. But if two people who wanted to die met and entrusted their lives to each other, perhaps they could survive.
Two people with no control over their own lives supported each other, living in that cold and icy palace. They went through countless hardships together. She rose from a lowly noblewoman to become the Empress Dowager, the mother of the nation, while he went from a weak scholar to one of the most skilled martial artists in the world.
No one could force them anymore, but every time they looked at the cold palace, they felt they had missed out on a lifetime. They both thought how wonderful it would have been if they hadn't gone to the capital and had eloped that day.
"I've missed out on too many things, and she didn't want me to miss this one, so she sent me." Li You finally stopped using the word "our family," and it seemed that most of the eerie aura around him had dissipated.
"Then let me see what it means to be above the celestial realm!" Li You said, seemingly insane, tears streaming down his face—tears that were hard to tell whether they were of sadness or joy—as he charged toward Lu Li, Red Gauze Sword in hand.
The wind whistling through the bamboo forest grew increasingly urgent, and the mournful song seemed to be gathering something, waiting for the moment it would burst forth.
Black scale armor appeared in Lu Li's hand, black energy surged around his body, and the symbol of the Three Suns Seven Stars appeared in the sky. The next moment, Black Heaven Descent, and Lu Li used the power of Black Heaven to strike seven palms in a row from a distance. After the seven palms, Black Heaven disappeared.
Li You ran with the Red Gauze Sword in his hand. It wasn't as if he was sparring with someone; rather, he was holding the hand of his beloved, embarking on a journey of elopement. Although the road ahead was unknown, his face was full of happiness.
The combined power of the seven palms shattered Li You's body into dust in the next moment. Lu Li grabbed the Red Gauze Sword and swung it repeatedly, unleashing several sword energies that pierced through some enemies.
Zhao Yifan could vaguely see a monster with ten masks appear behind Lu Li. Then he saw Lu Li come to his side and say indifferently, "I'm a little disappointed in you right now."
A few days later, in a simple courtyard inside the Imperial Palace in the capital, a dignified old woman suddenly called out, as if remembering something, "Xiao You, Xiao You."
"Your Highness... didn't we receive a battle report yesterday saying that Eunuch You had been killed in battle?" a maidservant asked nervously.
"I see. People get old, and their memory isn't so good anymore." The old woman stood up with some difficulty, looking at the bamboo grove outside the courtyard. A gust of wind blew by, and bamboo leaves fell one by one, like people who were helpless.
After looking at the bamboo grove for a while, the old woman suddenly spoke up, "Go and get me the wooden box under the first cabinet on the left side of my bedroom, near the door."
The maid paused for a moment, then quickly replied and went to find the wooden box. When she found it, the maid was still wondering how the Empress Dowager, whose memory wasn't very good and who usually forgot many things, could remember the location of this box so clearly.
"Alright, you may leave." The old woman stroked the wooden box, dismissing the maid, and suddenly laughed. She should have died decades ago, but seeing that guy's ashen face, she chose to live. He probably did the same.
The two of them had missed out on many things in their lives, but now, you better not walk too fast down there and miss me. The old woman opened the wooden box and looked at the white silk that had been prepared decades ago. It was time to use it.