Showdown

"You mean..."

Yan Tieyi's throat bobbed. His voice dropped.

Lu Chenyue did not answer. He only stared at the cave before them, his fingers curling slowly into his palm, his expression growing darker by the moment.

At last, he forced a sentence through his teeth:

"I hope it isn't what I think..."

Before another cave.

The entrance was so black it seemed capable of swallowing every trace of light. The Tracking Sword Talisman hovered in midair, its spiritual glow flickering.

Gu Han suddenly stopped.

Xue Chong was walking ahead. When he noticed the silence behind him, he turned around.

"Why have you stopped?" he asked with a frown, his voice still carrying the anger that had dogged him all the way here. "The Sword Talisman is glowing this brightly. She's inside. What are you waiting for?"

Gu Han did not answer.

He gazed at the pitch-black cave, and for the first time, his expression changed visibly.

On that face, usually so gentle and composed, something Xue Chong had never seen before began to surface.

From deep within the cave came a series of clear, ringing Sword Cries as blades clashed.

Xue Chong's frown deepened.

"It's Qinglan. She really is here. Hurry!"

"Master."

Gu Han spoke.

"There's something I want to tell you first."

Xue Chong stopped short.

He looked at the disciple he had raised with his own hands, and his heart sank for no reason he could name.

"Go on."

Gu Han was silent for a moment.

Then, slowly, he spoke the words he had buried for more than a decade, one sentence at a time.

"Ever since Xu Qinglan entered Sword-Hiding Mountain, I've been left behind her."

He paused. His voice was soft, yet it cut through the silence like a knife.

"Master, I'm no worse than