Chapter 147 - Slaying Tian Rui (1)

One hour earlier.

The autumn wind brushed gently past, sending waves through the grass on the hillside like rippling wheat. Usually, the only sound here was the soft rustle of wind through the grass. Today, there was something else mixed in.

Knock, knock, knock... The barefoot girl sitting cross-legged on the bed slowly opened her eyes, a flicker of confusion passing through them.

Why’s that guy home so early today? The thought flashed through Tian Yan’s mind. She gave a small hop, sprang down from the bed, and walked to the front courtyard to open the door.

The wooden door swung open. But what appeared before her was not Xu Yuan’s punchable face. It was a man with smiling, narrowed eyes. He was handsome and elegant, dressed in a spotless white robe that fluttered lightly in the wind outside the courtyard.

The two of them looked at each other without speaking. A few birds were startled from the crooked peach tree nearby and flapped into the air.

In the silence, Tian Yan said softly, “The chief disciple of the Grand Purity Dao Palace?”

The white-robed man studied Tian Yan with a careless, teasing gaze, then smiled lightly. “Shen Weixiu.”

“Oh.” Tian Yan nodded coldly, then simply turned around and walked back into the courtyard.

Shen Weixiu stared back at her, still smiling.

“Come in first. He isn’t back yet,” Tian Yan’s voice drifted over.

Shen Weixiu stood where he was and shook his head with a smile. “No. I’m here for you.”

Tian Yan stopped and looked back.

Shen Weixiu stared at her with a strange smile in his eyes, then grinned. “I came to discuss something with you.”

Tian Yan slowly turned around and looked at him. “Say it.”

Shen Weixiu’s tone remained lazy and relaxed. “Today, your Sect Master kept Jing He behind. Tomorrow, it will most likely be him and me fighting that life-and-death wagered duel. Regarding this matter, how about we make a deal?”

Tian Yan’s expression turned a little odd. She nodded, her voice clear. “Go on.”

“Tomorrow, I’ll show him mercy. In exchange, you come with me somewhere.”

“Can I refuse?”

“Probably not.” Shen Weixiu smiled.

A hint of thought appeared in Tian Yan’s eyes. She glanced at the flowers and plants in the courtyard that she had worked so hard to cultivate, then nodded.

“Fine. Let’s go.”

“Oh?” The corner of Shen Weixiu’s lips curved upward. His narrowed eyes showed a trace of interest. “You’re not even going to ask where I’m taking you?”

Tian Yan’s tone was flat. “Doesn’t matter.”

“Heh...” Shen Weixiu shook his head and slowly turned around. “Then let’s go.”

Before leaving, Tian Yan did not forget to close the door.

The two of them walked down toward the valley.

Shen Weixiu glanced at the girl behind him and said unhurriedly, “Looks like you care quite a bit about that Jing He.”

“Not really.” Tian Yan glanced at him. “If you want to do something to him, you’d better torture him properly. Just don’t kill him.”

A smile appeared in Shen Weixiu’s eyes. “You think I’ll believe that, coming from you now?”

“Believe whatever you want.” Tian Yan shook her head.

They walked all the way to a wooded hollow deep between the hills. Shen Weixiu suddenly said, “This is the place.”

“Here?” Tian Yan looked around, her golden eyes flashing with thought.

“So what did you bring me here for?”

“I’ll take you out of the Splendorbloom Realm from here.”

Tian Yan looked at him, golden eyes glinting.

“And why are you taking me out of the Splendorbloom Realm?”

“Because the Beguiling Divine Sakura needs your constitution.”

A look of realization appeared on Tian Yan’s face. “So that means you’ve already obtained the Beguiling Divine Sakura?”

Shen Weixiu’s narrowed eyes carried a lazy smile. “Of course. I advise you not to resist. But if you want to, you’re welcome to try.”

Tian Yan glanced at him, her voice crisp. “With that much arrogance, how have you survived this long?”

“This is called confidence.”

“Same thing to me.”

Shen Weixiu’s eyes narrowed into a slit, a trace of displeasure leaking through.

“Then there’s no room to discuss?”

“No room to discuss...?” Tian Yan murmured the words. The corner of her eye twitched slightly. She took a deep breath, then suddenly bared her teeth in a smile. “Shen Weixiu, do you know something?”

“Know what?”

“Because of one bastard, I really hate it when people say that to me.”

“Heh. You hate it?” Shen Weixiu drew a long sword from his Sumeru Ring and smiled at Tian Yan, enunciating each word. “Against me, it looks like you’ll just have to endure it.”

ᯓ➤

An hour later.

Shen Weixiu knelt on the ground, gripping his broken sword. Blood had dyed his once spotless white robe red.

Tian Yan stood quietly in the sky above, looking down at this white-robed chief disciple of the Grand Purity Dao Palace, her gaze cold and clear.

Shen Weixiu was not weak. And at this moment, she looked a little battered herself. Her pale red palace dress was scorched black in patches. The long sleeve on her left arm was gone, exposing a slender arm that trembled slightly beyond her control. Blood faintly seeped from the surface of her skin.

“Haa...” After coughing up a mouthful of blood, Shen Weixiu forced himself to support his body. He looked up at the girl hovering in the void and pulled his lips into a grin. “You really are strong...”

Tian Yan looked down and ordered in her clear voice, “Keep talking about what you mentioned earlier.”

Shen Weixiu shook his head, rose to his feet, and casually tossed away the broken sword. “No more. No more. If we keep waiting, Tian Rui probably won’t come anyway.”

“Then you’re useless.” Tian Yan cut him off. With a lift of her small hand, she formed a seal in an instant. “Four Directions Seal.”

The moment her words fell, a square seal made of golden light formed above Shen Weixiu.

“Fall.” Tian Yan swept her small hand downward.

The massive seal, a full ten feet across, came crashing down toward the crown of Shen Weixiu’s head.

A sharp light flashed in Shen Weixiu’s eyes. Lightning arcs burst around him.

Then the golden Four Directions Seal passed straight through Shen Weixiu’s body without the slightest resistance.

In that instant, Shen Weixiu’s body seemed to lose all substance.

Dao Charm, Lightning Transformation.

Tian Yan’s eyes narrowed slightly.

Turning one’s body into an element. Cultivated to its depths, one could transform not only into lightning, but into the Five Elements as well.

Seeing this, Tian Yan spat out a single word. “Instant.”

Her figure flashed, retreating at high speed.

But Shen Weixiu on the ground had long since lost any desire to keep fighting this mad woman.

Without the slightest hesitation, he turned directly into a streak of lightning and shot toward the horizon.

Tian Yan fell silent. Her chest rose and fell ever so slightly, without the faintest ripple of emotion. Then her figure flashed, and she sped after him.

Xu Yuan’s blade swept past.

Time seemed to freeze.

Crimson blood sprayed through the air. Tian Rui’s pale golden eyes were filled with disbelief.

Xu Yuan gripped the jade sword. The sword mark, like ink flung through the air, tore across Tian Rui’s side, nearly cutting his entire body diagonally in half at the waist. Through the wound, even the severed organs inside could be seen clearly.

And after that heaven-shaking strike, a blood-colored spiral drill instantly condensed beside Xu Yuan.

Xu Yuan did not relax in the slightest. His soul intent immediately spread outward, covering everything within a thousand feet.

He had already seen Tian Yan’s ghostly death-substitution art twice. Although he still did not know how to interfere with its activation, he had at least learned some ways to guard against it.

The instant the corpse vanished, a very special fluctuation of source qi would appear somewhere nearby. After that, the caster’s true body would emerge there.

But this time, there was no sign of a death-substitution secret art activating at all.

The surrounding source qi was terrifyingly still.

What was going on? Why had this Saint of the Heavenwatch Pavilion not activated his death-substitution secret art?

In that flash of lightning and fire, the thought crossed Xu Yuan’s mind.

And in the next instant, the spiral drill beside Xu Yuan turned into a streak of bloody light and stabbed toward the space between Tian Rui’s brows.

But the bone spike suddenly froze a few centimeters away from Tian Rui’s forehead.

Immediately after, a strange, suffocating fluctuation began to spread from Tian Rui’s body.