Outside the Sutra Repository, about a hundred feet from the entrance, Academy Master Lei Yuan paced back and forth with his hands behind his back, his expression grim.
Thousand-Household Commander Cao sat in a grand armchair, seemingly calm as he watched the distant entrance to the Sutra Repository.
He raised the cup of tea a subordinate had brought him to his lips, only to spit and fling out all the tea.
The tea was actually at a perfectly acceptable temperature, rich and fragrant.
Yet Cao Xuan could not drink it. Three blisters had formed on his lips at some point without his noticing.
This made him all the more irritable.
"Have you contacted Daoist Zijing? When can he get here? Has the Ten-Thousand-Household Office in State City replied? Where is the governor?"
The Daoist Zijing he spoke of was not only an instructor at Zhengyang Martial Academy's Sorcerer Academy, but also an Attendant sorcerer at Xiushui Commandery's Brocade-Clad Guard Thousand-Household Office.
Cao Xuan would not pin all his hopes on a boy of unknown origins.
With no Fourth Grade martial cultivator in Xiushui Commandery, they could only counter sorcery with sorcery.
Daoist Zijing's sorcery cultivation had reached Sixth Grade, so he might be capable of dealing with the 6,900 explosive flame talismans inside the tower.
However, he had gone into the mountains to gather herbs two days earlier, and they still had not managed to contact him.
The Dongzhou Brocade-Clad Guard Ten-Thousand-Household Office was the superior organization of Xiushui Commandery's Brocade-Clad Guard, commanding all Mounted Guards across the province's eight commanderies.
Cao Xuan received no answer from anyone around him.
Just as his headache became unbearable, a nearby Brocade-Clad Guard Hundred-Household Commander suddenly brightened and walked over. "Commander, Chu Xisheng has replied."
Cao Xuan's eyes widened slightly, a strange gleam appearing in his pupils. "What did the boy say?"
Nearby, Academy Master Lei Yuan, Ye Zhiqiu, and Shao Lingshan immediately turned to look toward Cao Xuan as well.
"He says he can give it a try, but we must send in a good saber that suits his hand, along with a high-quality Blood-Melting Pill. He also requests that when we move, three Sixth Grade experts force their way through the third window from the east on the fourth floor. In addition, he asks Instructor Ye of the academy to provide support beneath the fifth window from the east."
Ye Zhiqiu immediately frowned, casting a worried glance at the academy's fourth floor.
Shao Lingshan sneered at this, a trace of mockery in his eyes.
Lei Yuan remained impassive, neither approving nor objecting.
He would not send a disciple whose foundational cultivation had yet to enter the grades to his death, but neither would he take the initiative to stop him.
"A high-quality Blood-Melting Pill? Chu Xisheng's Origin-Nourishing Art hasn't even reached the second level. That request is reasonable enough."
Cao Xuan tapped the armrest thoughtfully. "We have a Seventh Grade sorcerer, so sending those two things inside won't be difficult. But why does he want us to force our way through the third window from the east?"
The Blood-Melting Pill was a medicine used internally by the Brocade-Clad Guard. It could briefly stimulate unusual bloodline powers, increasing strength and true essence.
A high-quality Blood-Melting Pill not only had no harmful aftereffects, but could even strengthen a martial cultivator's constitution to a certain extent.
"That, I do not know. There is also one more thing Chu Xisheng requested." The Hundred-Household Commander glanced at those around them, then leaned close to Cao Xuan and whispered a few words into his ear.
Cao Xuan listened intently, an amused smile gradually appearing on his face. "Interesting. You may grant his request."
Inside the Sutra Repository, the yellow talisman paper in Chu Xisheng's hand gradually began to change.
This talisman paper was truly miraculous.
The words Chu Xisheng had written in blood were disappearing little by little, including everything he had volunteered for and been volunteered for.
Not long afterward, a new character appeared on the smooth paper.
It read, "Granted."
Chu Xisheng's sword-like brows immediately lifted slightly, a hint of delight appearing on his face.
The Lily Maiden gave him a sidelong look with a peculiar expression. "You certainly know how to seize an opportunity to ask for benefits."
Chu Xisheng returned her look with righteous indignation, brimming with resentment. "You overstepped your bounds and accepted this deadly assignment for me. Surely you can't expect me to risk my life for nothing."
The Lily Maiden snorted with laughter and shook her head slightly. "Who's asking you to risk your life? Just stand to the side and watch when the time comes. Don't hold me back."
As they spoke, a streak of red light suddenly shot through the window and hovered precisely in front of Chu Xisheng.
It was a mahogany case, a little over four feet long and as thick as an arm, with fine, exquisite grain and mysterious runes carved on both sides.
Chu Xisheng opened the wooden case and discovered a goose-feather saber three feet two inches long inside. Its body was pitch-black, but cold light flowed along its edge.
Beside the blade lay a blood-red pill, only the size of the tip of his little finger, giving off a fresh herbal fragrance.
Chu Xisheng perked up and reached for the goose-feather saber. But before he could touch its hilt, the Lily Maiden had already reached over with her small, jade-white hand and snatched it away.
"Oh? It's actually a Black Cloud Flying Goose Saber made in Dongquan. Good. With this saber to help, I'm even more confident."
Chu Xisheng immediately glared at the girl. He had requested this saber from the Brocade-Clad Guard himself.
But he knew how to read the situation. Watching the Lily Maiden give the goose-feather saber a few flourishes, sending cold light flashing in every direction, he wisely abandoned the thought of asking for it back.
Fortunately, the Lily Maiden did not touch the Blood-Melting Pill. Afraid she might change her mind, Chu Xisheng grabbed it and swallowed it in one gulp.
The pill's effects were immediate. Before long, Chu Xisheng felt his whole body heat up. The blood in his organs, limbs, and bones grew scalding hot, and strands of true essence abruptly sprang into being within him.
The Brocade-Clad Guard had clearly calculated the timing. Just as the Blood-Melting Pill took full effect, a thunderous crash suddenly erupted outside the third window from the east, and three figures of different heights burst through like savage tigers and ferocious dragons.
Using Eagle Eye's dynamic vision to observe them, Chu Xisheng discovered that Academy Master Lei Yuan was among them. The other two wore flying-fish robes beneath breastplates, marking them at a glance as experts of the Brocade-Clad Guard.
The three advanced with fierce, overwhelming force, sweeping everything before them. Every bookshelf and wall in their path shattered into rubble in an instant.
They were especially ruthless, leaving no survivors in their wake. The four thugs they encountered along the way were killed the moment they met.
Together, the three were like a tornado annihilating everything as they swept toward that "sorcerer."
Chu Xisheng glanced in that direction, then withdrew his gaze and turned his attention to the real sorcerer hidden among the crowd.
The man was extremely vigilant. The moment the disturbance began, he swiftly retreated into the fifth room from the east, keeping well clear of Lei Yuan and the other two.
Immediately after retreating through the doorway, he formed mystical hand seals with both hands, intending to cast a spell.
But at that very instant, a black flash of saber light shone behind him, sweeping across his neck with swift, lethal force.
Horror and disbelief appeared on the sorcerer's face. Then his head slid off his neck, and blood sprayed out in great quantities.
Behind him, the Lily Maiden flourished the saber with effortless grace, a smug smile playing at the corners of her lips.
"This is called inviting you into the trap. The so-called Bloodwind Bandit Group amounts to no more than this-"
The Lily Maiden's words abruptly cut off.
Her expression sharpened as she looked toward the doorway with a hint of surprise.
"Lower Fifth Grade? Li Daogui actually has an expert like you under his command?"
The Lily Maiden tossed the saber straight onto the floor. Her entire body turned into a cloud of pale smoke and shot upward.
At that same instant, the one-eyed young man lunged through the doorway. He glanced at the sorcerer's corpse and immediately let out a roar of rage and hatred. His figure surged like a wolf as he pursued the pale smoke drifting above.
Both moved with incredible speed, covering a hundred feet in a single rise and fall.
Only then did Chu Xisheng jump down from the roof beam. Somewhat dazed, he looked at the corpse before him, then flicked the goose-feather saber up with his toe and caught it in his hand.
Perhaps because the Lily Maiden cultivated both sorcery and martial arts, she could not carry metal weapons while using her spells.
Chu Xisheng, however, liked this saber very much and was considering quietly keeping the Black Cloud Flying Goose Saber afterward.
But he had only just gripped the hilt when two burly figures carrying Locust Crossbows burst in.
Both men first looked at the corpse on the floor, then at the saber in Chu Xisheng's hand opposite them. Fury filled their eyes.
Cold sweat instantly broke out on Chu Xisheng's forehead. He reckoned there was probably no explaining this misunderstanding.
Before they could react, he darted away without a second thought and leaped out the window.
"The sorcerer's dead! It was that bastard-"
"Kill him!"
The two men roared furiously and rushed to the window together, aiming their Locust Crossbows at the falling Chu Xisheng.
In an instant, hundreds upon thousands of tiny, finger-length bolts shot toward him.
Watching the sky fill with bolt shadows like a swarm of locusts, Chu Xisheng felt his scalp prickle. His heart pounded violently, as though a heavy hammer had struck it, while a shudder spread throughout his body.
Yet the more frightened and desperate he became, the steadier and calmer his mind grew.
Without hesitation, Chu Xisheng swallowed the Divine Strength Pill hidden in his mouth. At the same time, he opened his eyes wide, using his Eagle Eye to track every short bolt's trajectory.
In that instant, he unleashed his potential to its utmost limit.
The goose-feather saber in his hand cast a swath of black blade light, cutting down and deflecting the incoming bolts one after another.
Throwing everything into it, he delivered twenty-seven slashes in an instant.
His right hand swung so fast that it exceeded his limits, sending a tearing pain through his arm, as though it had already snapped.
Yet those locust-like bolts still broke through his barricade of saber light, hurtling toward his face in unending succession.
Just as Chu Xisheng's heart turned cold as ice, a familiar female voice reached his ears.
"Move!"
The voice was like silver bells, but to Chu Xisheng's ears it sounded like a heavenly melody, incomparably sweet.
A heavy sword suddenly slashed out beside him, twisting and trembling in midair. In an instant, it stirred up a furious gale of concentrated force that blasted all the bolts away.
It was Ye Zhiqiu. She surged upward past Chu Xisheng, sweeping away every bolt in an instant. Then, like a leopardess, she slammed through the fourth-floor window.
Chu Xisheng also landed safely on the ground, rolling with his momentum to dissipate the force of his fall.
But when he tried to stand again, his legs felt weak, and his hands and feet trembled slightly.
The lingering fear of having narrowly escaped death left him unable to muster the slightest strength.
Just then, a buzz of voices rose around him.
"The sorcerer inside is dead?"
"Nothing exploded. None of those explosive flame talismans went off."
"That boy called Chu Xisheng did it? He actually pulled it off."
Along with this discussion came a thunder of footsteps and clattering iron armor.
Chu Xisheng raised his head and saw a large crowd of fully armed Brocade-Clad Guards swarming into the building.
At the same time, he also saw a huge firework suddenly burst across his retina.