Liu Bai rested a hand on the hilt at his waist and bent down, scooping up a handful of stream water with both hands. Just then, behind him, grass rustled as someone pushed through it.
"Who's there?!"
The sword at his waist sprang from its sheath with a ringing clang. He swept it through the air in a slanted arc, opening with the Flying Fish Sword Art's "Soaring Dragon Rising Phoenix." Beneath the moonlight reflected on the stream, the Cyan Steel Sword's blue-green point aimed straight at the figure emerging through the grass.
"Senior Brother Liu, it's us!"
Several fellow disciples dressed in Flying Fish Sect attire stepped out.
Daoist Chi Ling of the Flying Fish Sect belonged to the Daoist order and usually dressed as a Daoist priest. His disciples followed suit. Among the people searching Four Peaks Mountain, their attire made them stand out. Seeing the newcomers' matching Daoist topknots, gray robes, and Ten Directions Shoes, Liu Bai knew they were fellow disciples of the Flying Fish Sect.
Liu Bai hurriedly lowered his sword. Then, from the corner of his eye, he noticed two more people behind them carrying in a woman.
"Who is this woman?"
As the seventh disciple to enter the sect under its master, Daoist Chi Ling, Liu Bai furrowed his brows, full of questions as he looked at his fellow disciples.
"Seventh Senior Brother, we were just getting some water from the stream when we spotted this woman lying motionless between two rocks. So we brought her back."
The disciple speaking was still holding a strange, long copper case. In the moonlight reflected off the stream, a beast's head could be seen crouching at one end of the case, and cloud-and-thunder-like patterns were carved across it.
"She's injured and seems unconscious. Senior Brother, she looks like someone Prefect Sheng sent. What should we do with her?"
A junior disciple holding a torch asked from beside them.
"Someone Prefect Sheng sent?"
Liu Bai stared at the woman. He noticed her eyes were shut, her delicate brows knitted as if she were trapped in a nightmare.
That black-iron armor... Could she be one of the so-called Thirteen Flying Cloud Riders?
Liu Bai's eyes darted around. Suddenly, they went wide, and his mouth fell open. He shouted at the top of his lungs.
"Look out! Behind you—you're—"
The disciples reflexively turned around. A streak of sword light flashed past. Liu Bai had suddenly struck, flicking his wrist as he unleashed the most vicious killing move of the Flying Fish Sword Art, "Silver Scale Dance." His sword point scattered silver glints as it sliced through the disciples' throats.
"I'm sorry, junior brothers."
Liu Bai withdrew his sword and watched the wounded disciples clutch their gushing throats, their faces frozen in shock. Only then did he sigh.
"Since ancient times, loyalty and righteousness have been hard to reconcile. I had no choice."
He had spent years honing that strike. Once his sword left its sheath, it did not return empty-handed. That decisive blow had been filled with killing intent.
The wounds suffered by the Flying Fish Sect disciples were deep, and they bled profusely. There was no chance of saving them. Within moments, they had all collapsed to the ground.
Liu Bai made no move to strike them again. His eyes remained fixed on the unconscious Qi Huiying, and his murderous intent mounted as he slowly raised his sword.
"This woman has to die here today."
He was about to take her life when Qi Huiying's eyelashes trembled and her eyes suddenly flew open. She kicked at the ground with her right toe. The torch that had fallen there shot up with a whoosh, narrowly missing Liu Bai's forehead.
He turned his head aside as the torch flew toward the stream. Then he thrust his sword at Qi Huiying on the ground. But at that moment, she somehow got hold of a sword and swung it, scabbard and all.
Her swordsmanship was clearly a cut above Liu Bai's. Though she was at a disadvantage, she struck first with a flurry of attacks, making the most of her opening.
The two traded several blows. Liu Bai knew he was outmatched and retreated several steps, narrowly avoiding her fierce strikes.
"You... you're clearly injured. How can you still have the strength to wield a sword?"
He had not expected his badly wounded enemy to be so difficult to deal with. Cold sweat beaded in the palm of the hand gripping his sword.
"I get it now. You were pretending to be asleep the whole time. You weren't unconscious at all. How despicable."
"Despicable?"
Qi Huiying thrust her sword several times, then came to a stop. A wave of crushing exhaustion surged through her. Her hair clung to her forehead, and droplets of water fell one by one from the tip of her high nose.
"You're the one who slaughtered your fellow disciples for your own selfish gain, and you have the nerve to call me despicable?"
"I did slaughter my fellow disciples, but it was for my benefactor—not for my own selfish gain. If I end up in the underworld one day, I'll gladly endure a thousand cuts to repay this debt."
Liu Bai panted in short, sharp breaths as he regained his strength, answering her with striking candor.
"Don't bother trying to provoke me with your words. I won't let you leave here alive today."
"Let's see you try."
Qi Huiying held her sword in her right hand and swept her other hand across its scabbard. With a ringing clang, it shot through the air toward him.
Liu Bai slashed at it, cutting the scabbard in half midair. He turned his wrist and sent a flash of sword light toward her. Its cold gleam was chilling, and the sword tip suddenly blossomed into a field of stars.
Qi Huiying retreated a step, tripped over something, and fell backward. Liu Bai was overjoyed and lunged at her with his sword.
But then, against all expectations, she rolled across the ground. Liu Bai's sword stabbed into empty air. Qi Huiying rolled to the side and snatched up a long copper case beside a corpse.
"Stop!"
A loud shout rang out from nearby. A figure in Daoist robes leaped toward them, flinging several cold flashes through the air.
Thinking they were hidden weapons, Qi Huiying hurriedly dodged backward. There came several thumps. They were only stones, striking the copper case with a crisp, dull metallic ring.
"What happened here?"
Daoist Chi Ling was aghast. In the moonlight, he looked down at the bloody scene by the stream. His disciples in Daoist robes lay strewn across the ground, and a trace of anger furrowed his brow.
"Who did this—"
"Master!"
Liu Bai hurried over, dropped to his knees, and burst into loud sobs.
"That woman suddenly attacked them. My junior brothers were caught off guard and she killed them with her sword... They died so horribly, Master. You have to get justice for them!"
"Liu Bai, is that true?"
Daoist Chi Ling had always been fiercely protective of his own. At Liu Bai's words, his brows drew tight and fury surged in his heart. With a clang, he drew his sword and pointed its blade at Qi Huiying.
"I don't care who you are. You will answer for this today."
As soon as he finished speaking, torchlight suddenly blazed into the sky from the sparse woods and wild grass behind him. A large crowd came rushing over.
"Daoist, what happened?"
The Heavy Axe Gang, the Bamboo Flower Society, the Cold Clothes Hall, and the other large and small groups that had entered the mountain hurried over. Their torches flickered, lighting up a succession of dust-covered faces.
"I'd like to know what happened, too."
Daoist Chi Ling sneered, pointing his sword at Qi Huiying, who knelt on one knee.
"I remember you. You're a retainer or guest of Prefect Sheng's. Why did you kill my Flying Fish Sect disciples? If you don't give me an explanation today, you won't escape my Flying Fish Sword!"
We've fallen into a trap... Four Peaks Mountain itself is a trap. The Long Wind Society and this Liu Bai are both pawns of the mastermind behind this scheme. The Thirteen Flying Cloud Riders and Lord Sheng alike have fallen into this person's calculations...
Qi Huiying furrowed her delicate brows, lost in thought.
Then who could this person be?
She knew that seeing through the scheme was useless. The key was to uncover her opponent's true identity.
Wait. If I consider who stands to gain the most from this trip to Four Peaks Mountain, the mastermind's true identity becomes obvious...
Her thoughts raced. A flash of insight lit up her mind, and suddenly everything became clear.
"Master Chi Ling, I'm the fifth-ranked member of the Thirteen Flying Cloud Riders..."
Qi Huiying slowly rose to her feet, ready to reveal the truth—but at that moment, a scream came from the crowd behind Daoist Chi Ling. Then came a familiar beastly roar, cutting off her words.
"Run! The Mountain Demon... That Mountain Demon is here!"
Someone in the crowd shouted at the top of their lungs, but the warning came too late. A huge black shadow pounced into the crowd. Wherever it went, none could stand in its way; flesh and blood flew everywhere...
By the time He Ping arrived, the streamside, ringed with desolate wild grass, had already become a blood-soaked hell. The reek of blood hung heavy over the ground.
He stepped out of the sedan chair and glanced around, then spotted Liu Bai, who had only a breath left in him.
"B-Benefactor."
Liu Bai had been struck in the chest by tremendous force. His breastbone was crushed, and broken ribs had pierced his lungs. Blood bubbled from his mouth.
"...She... went that way... The woman... isn't dead yet..."
He summoned all his strength to finish speaking, then tilted his head to one side. His eyes remained wide open as he breathed his last.
He Ping bent down and closed Liu Bai's eyes with his fingertips, murmuring, "Thank you."
With a rustle, Chixinzi swept down from the air. His green robe spread like a great roc's wings, and a pair of iron wings extended from his back.
He landed and glanced at Liu Bai's corpse, chuckling. "Don't tell me this was one of your acquaintances, junior brother?"
"He was one of my personal dead men," He Ping replied evenly.
"Besides him, I secretly trained plenty more dead men and planted them in the Long Wind Society, the Flying Fish Sect, and various factions throughout Suian City. They've infiltrated those groups as disciples, servants, cooks, stable hands, and the like. They provide me with all sorts of intelligence, and when the time comes, they gladly give their lives for me. That's all there is to it."
"What use could these mortals be?" Chixinzi asked, somewhat puzzled.
"I mean in dealing with that Mountain Demon. You don't actually think a bunch of martial artists and your dead men can kill a Mountain Demon that's lived for three hundred years and nurtured a core within its belly, do you?"
"They're naturally useful."
He Ping nudged the corpse of a Heavy Axe Gang member nearby, its body bitten in half.
"Everyone who enters Four Peaks Mountain could become the Mountain Demon's prey. To me, that's an advantage I can factor into my plans... The more people that Mountain Demon eats, the better for me."