Chapter 1729: Madam San

On the contrary, as Zhou Mengyao gradually grew accustomed to this manner of fighting, her movements ceased to be awkward, and Qi Xuansu gradually began to lose ground.

With a single strike, Zhou Mengyao’s palm instantly multiplied into dozens, each imbued with the six qi. Everywhere Qi Xuansu looked, his vision was filled with layer upon layer of palm shadows.

Qi Xuansu was gradually unable to withstand the assault. He had no choice but to draw Qing Yuan, relying on an external weapon to even the odds.

After another hundred-plus exchanges, the two gradually slowed from their earlier blistering pace, simply because they were running out of stamina. Having grown accustomed to fighting at higher cultivation levels, they often overlooked factors such as physical endurance. They had gone all out from the very beginning, so naturally, they were beginning to lose energy.

Qi Xuansu was now panting heavily, his forehead drenched in sweat as white vapor rose from his body. Zhou Mengyao’s innate qi was likewise running low, preventing her from using the six qi as freely as before.

Without warning, Qi Xuansu came to an abrupt halt before suddenly surging forward. Zhou Mengyao remained completely still. As Qi Xuansu swept his sword horizontally toward her, she rolled her cloak around her arm and gave what appeared to be a light flick. Yet the sound of wind and thunder rang out. This was clearly the Wind Thunder Cloud Manifestation from the Taiyin 13 Swords. It was just that, in her current state, she could not conjure actual wind and thunder. A little sound of wind and thunder would have to do.

Zhou Mengyao’s cloak was clearly no ordinary object. It collided violently with the edge of Qing Yuan. The friction sent a long shower of sparks flying.

Immediately afterward, Qi Xuansu raised his leg and kicked Zhou Mengyao in the chest. Zhou Mengyao went with it, grabbing Qi Xuansu by the ankle before pivoting and swinging him around, hurling him outward.

After landing, Qi Xuansu stamped the ground to disperse the force, leaving a trail of footprints behind him.

Zhou Mengyao tapped the ground with the tip of her toes and shot forward, closing to within barely a foot of Qi Xuansu before mercilessly slamming a palm into his lower abdomen.

Qi Xuansu had no choice but to drift backward once again.

Zhou Mengyao followed close behind like a festering sore clinging to the bone, unleashing one palm strike after another without pause, each one containing a small amount of innate qi.

But Qi Xuansu did not simply take a beating without fighting back. Just as Zhou Mengyao’s momentum was waning, he instantly drew the pistol at his waist, catching her completely by surprise. The muzzle was pressed against her lower abdomen, right over her lower Dantian, when the projectile exploded forth. At such a point-blank range, Zhou Mengyao had no chance whatsoever to evade. Her entire body jolted violently as she was shot, forcing her to stagger backward with mangled flesh and blood oozing out.

Qi Xuansu once again rediscovered that old familiar feeling of turning the tables with a pistol and telling his opponent that the times had changed.

Although Zhang Yuelu was not here, she had bought him this pistol and deserved tremendous credit.

Qi Xuansu took two steps backward with the recoil, opening some distance between them while keeping the pistol trained on his opponent. “Zhou Mengyao, don’t move! Even if you make a move, I can still shoot you dead first. Let’s see which is faster—you, or my bullet.”

Never in Zhou Mengyao’s life would she have imagined that she would one day find herself held at gunpoint like this and that she would genuinely have to fear such an insignificant pistol!

The wound in her abdomen was a stark reminder that the rules of this place had been distorted. She no longer possessed the physique of an Immortal, so even an ordinary wound could kill her now.

“A pistol?” Zhou Mengyao’s voice was filled with immense disdain and indignation. “You’re an Omniscient Sage and a Pseudo-Immortal, yet you actually carry a pistol around with you?”

This was her version of, “You’re a grown man, yet you still carry a child’s wooden sword around with you all day.”

It was not only unexpected but also utterly baffling.

Qi Xuansu kept the pistol trained on Zhou Mengyao with one hand while holding the short sword horizontally before him with the other. “I can’t help it. I’m a sentimental man. Not only do I still carry the pistol, I even carry the short sword you gave me. Didn’t expect that, did you?”

Zhou Mengyao pressed one hand against the wound on her abdomen while raising her cloak with the other, ready to use it to block a bullet at any moment. At the same time, she began moving sideways.

Qi Xuansu did not dare let Zhou Mengyao circle around to his flank, so he moved along with her, ensuring that the firearm in his hand always remained a fatal threat to her.

Thus, the two of them began circling each other.

Half of Zhou Mengyao’s face was hidden behind her cloak as she scoffed. “I don’t remember ever teaching you any of this. Who did you learn it from?”

Qi Xuansu said, “Back when I was at the Wanxiang Daoist Palace, I only had two hobbies—firearms and the Holy Xuan Cards. I have a suggestion. Why don’t we skip the martial contest today and settle this with a battle of wits instead? We can decide the winner with a game of cards.”

To Qi Xuansu’s surprise, Zhou Mengyao did not reject the idea. She asked, “Did you bring any cards?”

Qi Xuansu said, “No. Did you?”

“I didn’t bring any either, so how are we supposed to play?” Zhou Mengyao replied casually. But in truth, she was searching for an opening in Qi Xuansu’s defenses. The instant he revealed even the slightest flaw, she would immediately close the distance. After all, a pistol was not particularly useful in close combat.

Qi Xuansu was doing the same. While guarding against Zhou Mengyao suddenly closing in, he was also searching for a gap in her defenses, hoping to land a single shot on a vital point.

Zhou Mengyao said, “I have a proposal.”

Qi Xuansu asked, “What proposal?”

Zhou Mengyao suggested, “You and I are trapped here now, with all our divine abilities and cultivation gone. If we still insist on fighting to the death, I’m afraid neither of us will make it out of here. Why don’t we call a truce for now and settle our accounts properly after we leave this place?”

Qi Xuansu replied, “That’s a good proposal. The only problem is, I don’t trust you.”

“You don’t trust me?” Zhou Mengyao feigned shock.

Qi Xuansu scoffed. “You’ve deceived me before. Of course I don’t trust you.”

Zhou Mengyao rebutted. “Madam Qi has deceived you too. How can you trust her?”

Qi Xuansu sneered. “Madam Qi lied to me mainly so that she could deceive you. The two matters can’t be lumped together.”

Zhou Mengyao narrowed her eyes. “Have you and Madam Qi known each other for a long time? Did you two plan all of this beforehand?”

Qi Xuansu replied casually, “We were friends in our previous lives.”

Zhou Mengyao rolled her eyes. “You’re still spouting nonsense even at a time like this. Forget it. I don’t care about any of that anyway. Once a person dies, everything comes to nothing. If you and I are trapped here forever, then everything truly will come to nothing. All those schemes you’re worried about, even the exalted position of Grand Master that you seek, none of it will mean anything anymore.”

Qi Xuansu chuckled. “At the very least, I’ll have an Immortal accompanying me to the grave. I wasn’t born into some great clan. I’m just an orphan without parents. I managed to become an Omniscient Sage while alive, and if an Immortal accompanies me in death, I’d say I’d die with no regrets.”

Zhou Mengyao pressed on. “What about Zhang Yuelu, then? The two of you have only just gotten married. Can you really bear to leave her a widow?”

Just then, an enormous rumbling suddenly came from the distant sea, and the darkness at the edge of their vision began to churn.

Immediately afterward, a vast, surging black tide swept toward the shore where the two of them stood.

Zhou Mengyao gritted her teeth. No longer caring about Qi Xuansu’s firearm, she turned and ran deeper into the island without looking back. Taking a shot from the pistol might not necessarily kill her, but getting swept into that black tide truly would.

Qi Xuansu was no fool either. He likewise turned around and ran.

Both of them ran with every last bit of strength they could muster.

The black tide was moving so quickly that Zhou Mengyao did not even dare stop to trip Qi Xuansu up. This was not like being chased by a ferocious beast, where all she had to do was outrun Qi Xuansu. If she stopped to sabotage him and lost even a single step, they might both end up buried within the black tide.

By the time Qi Xuansu scrambled on all fours up a high slope, the black tide had completely swallowed the beach they had been standing on moments earlier. The shattered remains of the multi-decked ship were engulfed by the black tide and vanished without a trace. At the most dangerous moment, the spray from the black tide had been less than 30 centimeters away from Qi Xuansu’s back.

Qi Xuansu barely managed to roll over onto his back, staring up at the sky as he gasped for breath.

Zhou Mengyao was not far away, leaning against a jagged boulder with both hands braced on her thighs, her chest heaving continuously.

Now, neither of them truly had any desire to fight anymore.

They did not know what other dangers awaited them, so they were better off conserving some strength. If they continued such petty fighting among themselves, they might genuinely end up dying here.

Qi Xuansu’s goal had always been to kill Zhou Mengyao while ensuring his own safety. Now that he could not even guarantee his own survival, there was no point in talking about revenge.

Moreover, as an Immortal, Zhou Mengyao understood the Extraterrestrial Heavenly Demons far better than he did. If he wanted to get out of here, he would still have to rely on her.

After a while, Qi Xuansu took the initiative to speak. “We’ll do as you said. Let’s get out of this damned place first, and we can talk about everything else afterward.”

Zhou Mengyao lifted her hands from her thighs and straightened up. “You agree to join forces?”

“I agree. This place is far too sinister. One careless mistake and we could die.” Qi Xuansu sat up. “How should I address you?”

Zhou Mengyao said, “Master, of course. Didn’t it roll off your tongue quite naturally back then? Master this, Master that, all day long. Do you remember the first time you went to Taiqing Market? You got lost, and I was the one who took you by the hand...”

Qi Xuansu’s expression darkened. “Enough!”

He had never thought much of it before, but looking back now, many of Qi Haoran’s habits had indeed been rather feminine. Two grown men generally would not hold hands. But if one of them was actually a woman, then it seemed perfectly natural.

Zhou Mengyao laughed. “The two of us have lived in the same courtyard for so long. I know all your habits like the back of my hand. What is there to be embarrassed about?”

Qi Xuansu said, “Let’s not bring up the past anymore. We should talk about serious matters instead.”

Zhou Mengyao said, “If you truly can’t bring yourself to call me Master, and calling me directly by name feels too much like cursing me, then just call me Madam San.”

Zhou Mengyao paused before continuing to explain, “San as in the number three, because I was the third born in my family. I had two older brothers, but one died young, while the other died when he was around 20. To this day, we still don’t know who killed him. It might have been the Taiping Sect, or it might have been the Quanzhen Sect. That wasn’t unusual. Qi Jianyuan, the one who came before you, originally had a tremendously promising future and might even have become a Virtuous Great Sage, yet he died an equally wretched death. Compared with my two elder brothers, perhaps it was precisely because I was a girl that I managed to grow up safe and sound and inherit the family legacy.”

This was the first time Qi Xuansu had learned anything about Zhou Mengyao’s past.

It could also be considered Zhou Mengyao’s way of demonstrating her sincerity.

Qi Xuansu had always known when to bend with circumstances. Since they were going to cooperate, he no longer tried to get on Zhou Mengyao’s nerves. He said, “Very well then...Madam San, what exactly is this place?”

Zhou Mengyao replied, “If my guess is correct, we should be inside the body of an Extraterrestrial Heavenly Demon. Extraterrestrial Heavenly Demons use dead pocket realms and divine kingdoms as their bodies, so their bodies are small worlds of their own. It’s possible that its avatar served as the teleportation entrance, or perhaps what we encountered was its true body, only that it is currently in an extremely weakened state.

“Moreover, this Extraterrestrial Heavenly Demon has already evolved the rudimentary beginnings of certain Heavenly Dao laws. That allows it to alter the rules of this world according to its own will.”

Qi Xuansu asked, “So we’re being restricted by the laws of the Heavenly Dao, which is why we’ve lost all our cultivation?”

Zhou Mengyao nodded. “That’s right. But the rules apply equally to everyone. For example, the laws of the mortal world do not permit anyone to enjoy infinite lifespan without consequence. Once 100 years have passed, a Heavenly Tribulation will descend. Even spirits born and nurtured by heaven and earth cannot disregard this rule. Therefore, even if other beings exist within this world, they will have no cultivation or only a tiny fraction of it remaining, like us.

“The Extraterrestrial Heavenly Demon itself cannot directly interfere with the workings of this world either, just as a person cannot simply reach a hand directly into their own stomach. That is the main reason I wanted to join forces with you. Since none of us have our cultivation here, every additional person means an additional measure of strength.”