"These past few years, you've grown better and better at shirking your work."
Once Qiuyuzi had steadied himself, the woman's voice within the Peachwood Sword began chiding him.
Qiuyuzi, burly and covered in a curly beard, shook his head and grinned. "You don't understand. I'm not shirking. I'm going with the flow and following the sect's instructions."
The Peachwood Sword scoffed. "Keep making excuses. Kunlun told you to mediate and keep track of what Chen Cuo is doing. You were a step late before, and that was one thing. But then, on the way here, you worked out that he'd probably gone to Chang'an, yet you still came to Great Hua Mountain..."
"He might not have gone straight to Chang'an. He might have come to Great Hua Mountain. I won't know until I ask." Qiuyuzi grinned, plainly asking a question he already knew the answer to. "I'm simply being cautious. If anyone asks, I'll have a perfectly good explanation."
He wiped his face. When the Peachwood Sword said nothing more, he lowered his voice. "There's a knack to my delaying tactic. Give it a few days. Once those youngsters in the sect learn how formidable he is, they'll change their minds. Then, given my friendship with Chen Cuo, I can rest easy for years..."
Before he could finish, the Peachwood Sword cut him off—
"Stop talking!"
"What is it?" Qiuyuzi was baffled.
The Peachwood Sword did not answer. Instead, she said urgently, "Go!"
Qiuyuzi froze for an instant, but asked no more questions. He summoned a cloud and shot into the air!
He had barely taken off when more than a dozen cold gleams burst upward from below. They wove a great net in the sky, trapping him within it!
In an instant, their razor-sharp force erupted!
Qiuyuzi's eyes stung