Taking the Blame

Chu Xisheng and Lu Luanli ran swiftly through the cavern passage.

Though the cavern was deep and dark, it was not completely impossible to see.

Threads of lava-like patterns covered the walls, giving off a faint, dark-red glow that barely allowed them to make out the path ahead.

However, the temperature inside was also high. The market town outside was already hot, yet the cavern was even hotter.

After running for a while, Chu Xisheng began to pant.

He bore the Six Yin Soul-Returning Incantation, and large amounts of cold poison and yin baleful energy had accumulated inside him, damaging his lung meridians.

Whenever he sprinted for too long, his chest felt as though it would burst.

Fortunately, after Lu Luanli noticed something wrong with him, she slapped a talisman directly onto his back-a Divine Movement Talisman.

Once the spell took effect, Chu Xisheng felt his steps grow considerably lighter, and his stamina gradually recovered.

He was also able to examine his system panel as he ran.

A small firework had just burst in his field of vision again.

The Martial Dao Points on his system panel had risen from 25 to 26.

Chu Xisheng thought of the three men he had killed, looking thoughtful.

It was not as though he had never taken a life before. He had killed three people during his time with the escort convoy.

Yet his system had shown no change then.

If there was any difference, it was that the short, stocky man had been powerful, already close to the peak of ninth-rank lower.

Had that man been fully prepared for his swift saber and adopted a steady, methodical strategy, Chu Xisheng reckoned his own chances of winning would have been low.

Chu Xisheng suspected the Yazi saber intent had also played a part.

Had the short, stocky man not been affected by the mental impact, slowing his saber by a fraction, he could have left them both injured.

Chu Xisheng would still have been able to kill him, but he would have been wounded himself.

Just then, a slight dizziness swept through Chu Xisheng's head, and fatigue spread throughout his body.

Chu Xisheng quickly realized that this was the aftereffect of using saber intent.

While striking his opponent with a mental impact, he had also expended a considerable amount of his own mental power.

After they had put some distance between themselves and the crowd behind them, Lu Luanli looked at Chu Xisheng and spoke approvingly. "Those three strikes were excellent. Simple and fierce, with the force of thunder. What's especially rare is that you even stirred saber intent. That must be the Yazi saber intent you comprehended in the Library Tower? Unfortunately, your cultivation is limited, so you still can't control it at will."

After praising him, she held out her hand to Chu Xisheng. "Give me your saber."

Chu Xisheng's face twitched. He had already guessed what Lu Luanli intended to do.

This woman clearly wanted him to take the blame again.

Nevertheless, Chu Xisheng handed over his Hundred-Forged Light Steel Saber without hesitation, then silently drew the spare steel saber from behind his back.

After taking the saber, Lu Luanli weighed it in her hand, then abruptly accelerated, stirring a breeze through the cavern passage.

As she reached the bend ahead, she leaped into the air and actually stepped onto the right-hand stone wall, rounding the corner at high speed.

On the other side of the bend stood five burly men in blue.

Three of them held sabers, while the other two held powerful crossbows aimed ahead.

But Lu Luanli ran along the stone wall, her entire body horizontal in midair, launching a surprise attack from an angle they had never expected.

The pupils of the young man leading them abruptly contracted as he watched the Hundred-Forged Light Steel Saber grow larger and larger before his eyes.

"Who are you? Do you know I'm from the Long Household-"

Before he could finish, the white saber light had already sliced through his neck.

Lu Luanli was also using the Wind-Chasing Blade, but her strikes were swifter and cleaner, her movements free and effortless, as though she were dancing rather than fighting.

As she passed through the five men, not even a single drop of blood touched her.

Only then did Chu Xisheng belatedly round the bend. Looking at the five corpses on the ground, he could not help twitching the corner of his mouth.

From their wounds, he could tell that Lu Luanli had not only imitated his Wind-Chasing Blade, but had also used precisely the right amount of strength.

It matched Chu Xisheng's strength exactly-not a fraction more, not a fraction less.

At the entrance to Firebone Cavern, Long Heng, the Long Household's eldest young master, stood with his hands behind his back, studying the three corpses on the ground with interest.

His face was round as a full moon, his features refined, and his phoenix eyes long and narrow. He wore a white satin scholar's robe with flowing sleeves, his long hair falling unrestrained over his shoulders. His bearing resembled that of a great scholar or an unfettered eccentric from ancient times.

"This man's saber really is fast. Long Four's cultivation was already among the best in ninth-rank lower, yet he finished him with a single strike. What's rare is that he also used precisely the right amount of force. The wound is very clean, neither too deep nor too shallow, just enough to kill in one strike."

Long Heng clicked his tongue as he commented, as though the corpse he was looking at belonged to a stranger rather than a trusted subordinate.

Then he turned his head and smiled at a youth behind him. "Someone whose foundational cultivation hasn't even entered the ranks can actually wield such a swift saber. Little brother, there's no shame in your defeat. By the way, I heard the person at Zhengyang Martial Academy who killed the Bloodwind Bandits' spellcaster was also named Chu Xisheng?"

The youth was none other than Long Sheng. White cloth still wrapped his wrist, and he raised his hands to answer, fear showing on his face. "It was him. They say many people at Zhengyang Martial Academy saw it with their own eyes that day."

Before he had finished speaking, a sharp smack rang out across his face.

Long Heng had slapped Long Sheng across the face.

The Long Household's eldest young master struck so hard that Long Sheng stumbled, staggering several steps backward before he stopped. A thin trickle of blood seeped from the corner of his mouth.

He held his face and stared at his elder brother in disbelief.

"Do you know why I hit you?"

With a cold sneer in his voice, Long Heng walked toward his younger brother. "You weren't wrong to seek revenge on him, and you could kill him, too. Since he dared disgrace our Long Household, he deserved to die. The only thing you shouldn't have done was grow another branch outside the main bough at a time like this.

"Do you know how much demon silver I've spent, how many favors I've called in, and how many men I've mobilized to surround and kill Tie Xiaosheng of the Iron Banner Gang? Right now, we're stretched so thin we can barely cover ourselves, yet you dared redeploy my subordinates without permission to kill someone of no consequence."

Long Sheng kept backing away, his face deathly pale.

Just as his back met the stone wall behind him, leaving him nowhere else to retreat, a young man in blue with a longsword on his back stepped in front of Long Heng.

"Enough, Junior Brother Long. He's your younger brother, after all. A small punishment to teach him a serious lesson will suffice."

The man was around twenty, with a hooked nose, hawkish eyes, and fair, delicate skin.

He glanced at Long Sheng and spoke earnestly. "Don't resent your elder brother for being ruthless. We only managed to grievously wound Tie Xiaosheng this time because we caught him by surprise. If we don't seize this opportunity to eliminate him and let this deputy banner chief of the Iron Banner Gang catch his breath, your Long Household will have trouble holding its foundations in Firebone Cavern.

"Your elder brother is setting up checkpoints throughout the cavern right now, casting a net to search for Tie Xiaosheng. Every single man is precious-"

Before he could finish, a man in a short blue tunic ran out from deep inside the cavern.

The sword-bearing young man recognized him as a Long Clan soldier, and his words faltered.

"Eldest Young Master!" The man in the short tunic hurried up to Long Heng and dropped to his knees. "Long Zheng and the entire squad under him are dead. We've examined the wounds. The killer probably used the Wind-Chasing Blade, and the saber work was swift and fierce. It should have been that Chu Xisheng. That man and woman fled into the cavern and happened to pass through the entrance Long Zheng was guarding-"

Just then, another young man dressed the same way hurried out, his face deathly pale. "Eldest Young Master, Long Five's fifth squad has been slaughtered to the last man. The killer used the Wind-Chasing Blade. We suspect Chu Xisheng!"

Long Heng froze for a moment, then chuckled. "How long has it been? Not even half a quarter-hour, and he's already cut down thirteen of my men. Unbelievable. Is he really only ninth-rank lower? What a ruthless heart, what a fierce saber!"

He glared fiercely at his younger brother Long Sheng, then turned to the sword-bearing young man. "Senior Brother Du, this is no small problem. I'm sorry for the trouble, but I'll have to ask you to handle it. Choose any three of my Hengmen Eighteen Riders to take with you."

The sword-bearing young man raised his brows slightly at this, feeling that Long Heng was taking this "problem" too seriously.

The Hengmen Eighteen Riders were death-sworn warriors Long Heng had personally trained, all possessing ninth-rank upper strength.

Every one of them wore heavy armor and carried a precious saber, armed to the utmost, with combat prowess approaching the eighth rank.

Any three of those eighteen riders working together would be enough to deal with Chu Xisheng.

Yet besides those three heavily armored death-sworn warriors, Long Heng also wanted him to act personally.

The sword-bearing young man did not refuse. He smiled and strode deeper into the cavern.