When they returned to the stronghold, no one there knew that a small squad had run into a swordswoman and nearly been wiped out. The place was boiling with noise, everyone talking about the latest developments among their superiors.
"Heard the news? Helmsman Fang botched the job, and the Vermilion Bird Venerable punished him so badly she nearly took his bones apart."
"Just heard... Serves him right, too. Fucking bastard wanted to find something in the mountains, but he didn't trust us brothers in the stronghold. Wouldn't breathe a word to us, just had those few dozen full-fledged cultists search in secret. What the fuck were they supposed to find? How big are these fucking mountains? Scatter a few dozen people across them, and how's that any different from tossing a handful of needles into the sea? Did he think this was his cheap city whorehouse, where every man who visits becomes a brother-in-law?"
"Shh, keep it down. You're done for if the helmsman hears."
"Who gives a shit? The Vermilion Bird Venerable injured that idiot so badly he might be dying."
"Anyway, turns out the Blood God Cult really is part of the Four Symbols Cult. I thought it was just a vassal, but from the looks of it, it's actually a subordinate branch. The Vermilion Bird Venerable can give it orders directly."
"Even if it started as a vassal, how hard would it be to turn it into a subordinate? The Four Symbols Cult is too powerful..."
"That's why the strong are so generous. Just let everyone search. Whoever finds it gets taught the Blood God Art, and might even get straight into the inner circle of the Four Symbols Cult!"
"Exactly. The venerable said the thing has a divine nature of its own. Anyone with a destined connection might even receive some tremendous blessing. That's the kind of talent the cult needs. Isn't that generosity a damn sight better than that stingy bastard Fang?"
"Maybe Helmsman Fang wouldn't let everyone search because he was afraid someone else would take a share of his opportunity..."
Yet as the heated conversation went on, those cursing Helmsman Fang for his stinginess began casting wary looks at the friends they were speaking with. Only now did both sides realize there was just one opportunity. They were all rivals.
"Heh." Zhao Changhe scoffed, tugged Luo Qi away, and quietly skirted around them, heading straight for the pool behind the mountain.
Any later, and people might start searching this way. They had to hurry.
Yue Hongling had appeared at just the right time. Otherwise, who knew how long he would have had to beat around the bush before getting Instructor Sun to tell him about the Azure Dragon Star Mansion Formation? Now they could get straight to solving it. After all, Luo Qi knew something about formations.
The two rushed behind the waterfall. Sure enough, no one else had come, and the star chart was still there. Zhao Changhe breathed a sigh of relief and asked, "Which one is the Heart Mansion?"
Luo Qi glanced at him and silently pressed one of the stars.
Zhao Changhe realized it was actually the brightest star in the entire chart, and he glanced back at Luo Qi. If it was that simple, shouldn't Luo Qi have solved it already? Or had the most obvious clue been the one he least dared touch, and he had simply been cautious?
The thought flashed through his mind, and Luo Qi had already pressed the other star mansion points in one continuous sequence.
The star chart slowly split open, revealing a small opening just wide enough for one person to pass through.
"It worked!" Zhao Changhe looked excited, but remained cautious. "Don't just go in yet. I've heard places like this can be full of carbon mono... uh, poisonous gas. Let's see whether we can light a fire striker..."
"No need." Luo Qi sighed. "I practice internal arts, so I'm more sensitive to the air than you are. We can go inside. But I can't be sure whether there's anything like a guardian spirit. Be careful."
Zhao Changhe drew his saber and ducked into the opening first. "In that case, I'll scout ahead."
Luo Qi pressed his lips together and followed.
There was no bizarre space inside, nor any guardian spirits, zombies, skeletons, or the like.
The place was actually tiny, only the size of a small room, smaller even than their shared wooden cabin. It was circular, as though echoing the stars in the heavens depicted outside. In the center sat a square piece of blue-green jade shaped like an imperial seal. Its handle was a white orb the size of a goose egg, with the faint form of a dragon slowly swimming within it, as though alive.
"Round heaven, square earth, a dragon roaming the nine heavens... It really is the Azure Dragon Seal..." Luo Qi murmured almost inaudibly.
Zhao Changhe hadn't heard clearly. He turned and asked him, "Do you know what this is?"
Luo Qi stared at the Azure Dragon Seal in a daze and said softly, "How would I know?"
Zhao Changhe said, "Whatever it is, the Four Symbols Cult values it a lot, right? Judging by that Azure Dragon Star Chart, it even matches the cult's name. There must be a deep connection. If we bring it to the Vermilion Bird Venerable, we're sure to get into the Four Symbols Cult. Even if we can't, trading it for the Blood God Art shouldn't be a problem, right?"
Luo Qi murmured his assent.
Zhao Changhe crouched down and cautiously extended his saber toward it, inch by inch.
Who knew why something like this had no powerful guardian? Perhaps the object itself carried some mighty restriction. Uneasy, Zhao Changhe carefully tested it with his saber first.
Behind him, Luo Qi bit his lower lip hard and slowly drew a dagger from his sleeve. He stared at Zhao Changhe's back, his gaze filled with emotions too tangled to put into words.
Zhao Changhe's Eyes Behind the Head saw it clearly. His heart lurched, and his expression changed.
This was...
Luo Qi wanted to kill me?
Luo Qi wanted to kill me...
This...
"Don't trust anyone, including me."
Luo Qi's words echoed in his mind. Even now, Zhao Changhe couldn't believe what he was seeing. He even wondered whether his Eyes Behind the Head had malfunctioned and were showing him the wrong footage.
If Luo Qi wanted to kill him, he could have stabbed him to death on any number of nights. Why wait until today?
Just yesterday, Luo Qi had been helping ease his suffering. How could he possibly have looked like someone who wanted to kill him?
Could it be... just because the treasure had appeared, and he wanted it all for himself?
And to think he had just scoffed at the people in the stronghold. Once the brothers' sword was drawn, there were no brothers-would that prove true for him and Luo Qi as well?
Zhao Changhe's heart sank to rock bottom. His grip on his saber tightened and tightened, yet he still refused to give up hope as he waited for the moment Luo Qi struck.
Who would have thought his Eyes Behind the Head cheat wasn't meant for peeking at someone bathing, but for this moment? The Turning Slash he had practiced through countless days and nights would be used on Luo Qi...
He didn't know how much time passed. Perhaps it was only a second before Luo Qi's hand, frozen in front of him, finally moved.
The taut string in Zhao Changhe's heart snapped. He spun and slashed.
But Luo Qi wasn't stabbing at him. He hurled the dagger hard at the ground.
Zhao Changhe stopped his blade in an instant. Its edge halted precisely at Luo Qi's neck, without advancing even a fraction farther.
Luo Qi stared at Zhao Changhe in astonishment, while Zhao Changhe stared back expressionlessly. They faced each other for a long while before Luo Qi finally laughed. "Not bad, not bad... So all that precise control you trained day and night was meant to spare my life. How strange. With your meager cultivation, how did you sense what was happening behind you?"
Zhao Changhe said quietly, "You... just now..."
"I wanted to kill you." Luo Qi relaxed completely. "But I really couldn't bring myself to do it. What could I do? Our Boss Zhao had just stood in front of Yue Hongling to protect me, after all. I'm not some wolf-hearted, dog-lunged ingrate."
"Even... even without what happened with Yue Hongling..." Zhao Changhe struggled to speak. "I simply can't imagine you killing me... How could you possibly kill me... Just for a treasure?"
Luo Qi quietly watched Zhao Changhe's expression, as though his heart had died. The pain in his eyes seemed worse than the agony of ten thousand ants biting him during last night's breakthrough. A flicker of heartache passed through Luo Qi's eyes, and he answered seriously, "Why couldn't I do it for a treasure?"
"Don't lie to me! You're not that kind of person!" Zhao Changhe shouted.
"How much do you know about me? Just because we slept together?" Luo Qi raised his voice too. "I've been lying to you from beginning to end. Don't you know that?"
"You..."
"I could have solved the formation yesterday. I pretended I couldn't because you were right beside me! Do you understand? I've been lying to you all along!"
"..."
"I was going to sneak off and get it myself today, but I couldn't get out of the mission. Before the mission was even finished, Yue Hongling came and caused trouble. Fine, she caused trouble, but then Vermilion Bird showed up too! Now the whole mountain is searching!" Luo Qi grew angrier as he spoke. "Is the whole world determined to make my life difficult?"
The corner of Zhao Changhe's mouth twitched. "All right, keep it down. We sound like a married couple having a fight. This is ridiculous."
Luo Qi's expression turned odd as well. He turned his head aside and lowered his voice. "Right. There are people searching everywhere outside. If you draw them here, that treasure within your reach really will be gone."
Zhao Changhe said, "..."
"You really need this thing," Luo Qi said softly. "Whether you use it to get into the Four Symbols Cult, or to obtain the Blood God Art and escape your current suffering, or even... this thing can cleanse your sinews and marrow, wiping away the disadvantage of having started martial training so late. And you've always treated it as something already in your pocket. You never considered that I might want it badly too, did you?"
At last, Zhao Changhe's eyes stirred. He answered quietly, "No. I always thought it belonged to both of us."
"To both of us? Really?" There was a note of melancholy in Luo Qi's voice. "You've only ever considered what benefits you'd get from it. Did you spare even a moment to think about what it might do for me? Changhe, do you know that I came to North Mang for this thing in the first place? It's even been my wish since childhood... If I stand by and watch you take it away, what have I been doing with my whole life..."
Before you continue