The New Saint
Qu Hongxiao walked alone through the deserted streets. She rarely lowered her head, keeping her gaze fixed ahead.
A gust of wind swept through, lifting her long black hair.
Something rustled past, and a lock of hair was severed, vanishing on the wind.
Qu Hongxiao stopped short, a sharp light bursting from her eyes. She bent her knees slightly, pushed off with one foot, and darted aside. Looking back, she saw a clean crack split the bluestone paving where she had been standing, with a fierce wind howling through it.
"Too slow, too slow. Tree chopper Qu Hongxiao, you've truly disappointed me."
A deep voice suddenly rang out, exploding in Qu Hongxiao's heart like thunder.
Her identity had been exposed!
Qu Hongxiao knew full well that when two tree choppers met and recognized each other's identities, only one could remain. That had been the rule of the Great Curtain since time immemorial.
A fierce wind swept past, its howl sharp as a blazing blade, instantly slicing off another lock of Qu Hongxiao's hair.
"They all say you, Qu Hongxiao, are the most gifted Human World Walker in Camel Bell Mountain's history. At only twenty-four, you've already reached Peak Nascent Soul and cultivated the Mind of a Clear Mirror. But now that I've seen you, you're. Nothing. Special."
She heard the voice, but saw no one.
In her present state, Qu Hongxiao truly could not locate her opponent. Her cultivation was sealed and her divine soul locked away; at most, she now had the strength of Peak Foundation Establishment. And she knew that anyone qualified to be the tree chopper of Black Stone City's Great Curtain would naturally be no ordinary opponent.
But her opponent was hidden, and she did not know his identity, so Qu Hongxiao could not make a clear judgment. With her strength greatly diminished, the only solution she could think of was to flee.
She formed Hand Seals with both hands. Her figure flickered and abruptly vanished from the spot.
At that very instant, a man wearing a conical hat suddenly darted out. He stood with a saber on his back, then drew it. A fierce wind surged from its tip, tearing through the air of the night.
Beneath the conical hat, his eyes were like the deepest depths of the underworld. Suddenly, a flash of white light passed through them. Without hesitation, he slashed, whipping up a raging wind that struck the white light.
The force of a vast expanse of thunder had already made the outcome certain.
A streak of crimson appeared in the darkness, dripping onto the bluestone paving.
The man in the conical hat swung his saber and closed in.
Inside the Three Flavors Study, Ye Fu abruptly opened his eyes.
Chapter 28: The New Saint
That trail of blood-red looked especially desolate beneath the crescent moon.
Qu Hongxiao stumbled out of the darkness and into the moonlight. Blood stained the corner of her mouth, her eyes were clouded with confusion, and her entire right arm was covered in blood. A wound deep enough to expose the bone lay bare on her shoulder. Most of her once-white robes had been dyed red, living up to the "red" in her name.
The man in the conical hat stood upright and said solemnly, "Tree chopper Qu Hongxiao, you don't live up to your reputation."
Qu Hongxiao swayed and sank to one knee, her chest heaving. Brow furrowed, she stared fixedly at the man in the conical hat. After a moment, she gave a muffled grunt and said, "Then I'm truly sorry."
"When two tree choppers meet and recognize each other's identities, only one can remain. I trust you understand that rule." The man in the conical hat spoke evenly.
Qu Hongxiao said nothing, lowering her eyes and bowing her head.
A crow cawed from atop a tall building nearby. The man in the conical hat and Qu Hongxiao looked over at the same time and saw a crow-shaped mass of black Qi twisting and turning atop the building. It soon formed a human figure.
The figure stood atop the building, black from head to toe, silently watching Qu Hongxiao and the man in the conical hat on the avenue below.
The man in the conical hat turned back and said, "The forest keeper is already here. The outcome is set: only one of us can remain. Qu Hongxiao, unleash your strength, or you really will die."
Qu Hongxiao took a deep breath, her badly injured arm hanging at her side. Ordinarily, such an injury would have been nothing, but now, first, she was in Black Stone City, constrained by the rules of the Great Curtain, and second, her cultivation was sealed. The injury had nearly cost her the use of an arm.
Pressing her other hand against her knee, she gritted her teeth and stood. Her expression became as placid as still water, as it should have been, and she silently watched the man in the conical hat. At that moment, she once again became the Human World Walker of Camel Bell Mountain, the one whom all the world gazed up at from the foot of the mountain. The pride with which she looked down on everyone below was on full display.
"Qu Hongxiao, Human World Walker of Camel Bell Mountain, is here." There was no emotion in her voice, only a plain statement.
The man in the conical hat stopped, his sharp saber leaving its sheath.
He drew his saber, cleaving the curtain of night and raising a fierce wind that howled toward Qu Hongxiao.
Qu Hongxiao formed a Hand Seal with one hand and held it before the spot between her brows. Boundless light burst from her eyes as she murmured, "Spirit Rhinoceros!"
That single utterance set the curtain of night swaying. The spot between her brows slowly opened, and a ray of bright yellow light pierced the onrushing gale, instantly tearing apart every part of the man's assault. But she paid a terrible price herself. All her strength left her, and she sank to the ground in a daze.
Her brow drooped, and the color gradually faded from her eyes. She murmured to herself, "I never imagined my cultivation would be restricted to such an extent that I can't even summon Spirit Rhinoceros. A mere Qu Hongxiao, a mere Qu Hongxiao."
Under the restrictions of Black Stone City's Great Curtain, she could not use Law Treasures and could only rely on her own cultivation. But now that her cultivation was gone, she could not even use her trump-card Divine Ability.
As she was now, she truly had been driven into a hopeless situation.
"Qu Hongxiao, was that your final move?" The man in the conical hat sounded utterly disappointed. "Qu Hongxiao, the formidable tree chopper competing for the Ancestral Tree, is nothing special after all."
Atop the tall building, the young man whose entire body was concealed in darkness thought to himself, It seems the human world will soon have one fewer walker.
The man in the conical hat swung his saber down, then shook his head, sheathed it, and silently turned to leave.
But before he took a step, he stopped, because he had not heard the expected sound of a head falling to the ground.
His body suddenly stiffened. He turned around bit by bit, and his eyes flew wide.
Qu Hongxiao stood ramrod straight where she was, her red-and-white robes snapping in the wind like plum blossoms in the depths of winter, her uneven, bloodstained black hair dancing like a horde of demons gone wild. But that was not what shocked the man in the conical hat.