Chapter 174 - Not Dead

The mountain woods, the full moon, four people standing in midair. Everything was very quiet. Yet when Xu Yuan saw this scene, he was honestly a little surprised.

The instant he cut down that old man, almost in the very next breath, the dense killing intent and surging source qi from the two people opposite shim had locked onto him.

That much, Xu Yuan had expected. His attack just now had looked terrifying, but in truth, he had only taken advantage of the fact that their attention had been wholly fixed on Ran Qingmo and launched a sneak attack to kill a third rank old man who was already badly wounded.

Plenty of people could have done that. It was only natural that it would not be enough to bluff two Grandmasters.

What truly surprised him was that after their source qi had surged for that one instant, the burly man and the plump woman across from him both wilted at almost the same time.

Xu Yuan had already prepared for a tactical retreat, ready to hand the front line over to Ran Qingmo and the Sage’s remnant soul. Yet the two of them did not attack. The way they looked at him even carried a trace of fear.

This, Xu Yuan did not understand. But in the next moment, he did.

“Xu... Xu Changge?” The burly man’s contracted pupils trembled uncontrollably. His voice, echoing through the silent mountain forest, carried a faint shake.

The moment he saw that handsome face, so familiar yet not quite the same, the deepest fear in the burly man’s heart seemed to be hooked out of him.

That year, in early summer, led by their sect, their group had gone to the grand gathering held between the sects once every seven years.

Everything had gone smoothly.

Countless proud geniuses displayed their brilliance at the Celeste Assembly. In that generation, their Myriad Manifestations Sect was very strong, because they had that breathtakingly gifted eldest senior sister.

His eldest senior sister had very naturally brought the same strength and beauty she possessed within the sect onto the stage of the grand competition.

Even though more than ten years had passed, he still remembered her bright eyes, clear as autumn water, and the faint, lingering fragrance that drifted from her whenever she spoke to him.

Only half a month after the Celeste Assembly began, his Eldest Senior Sister had already won countless admirers. Even the Young Heaven Master from the Heaven Master Sect treated her with great respect.

His Eldest Senior Sister advanced with effortless victories, defeating opponent after opponent, until she met that young man in azure.

Then his Eldest Senior Sister was killed.

Amid the deathly silence of the watching crowd,

His Eldest Senior Sister’s head left a smear of blood across the stage, then gently rolled down from the platform with a soft, hollow thump.

That peerlessly beautiful face still held astonishment and disbelief.

And the young man on the stage, his features still carrying a trace of boyishness, yet looking like an Immortal banished from Heaven, merely sheathed his sword in silence, then turned and left in silence.

He did not even spare the woman another glance, as if the one he had just killed was not a fairy of peerless grace and beauty, but a dead dog by the roadside.

And it was precisely in that moment that the young man’s back, and that calm gaze, were carved deep into the burly man’s mind. Not because of anger or killing intent, but because of invincibility. And fear... It was a back so terrifying that even after more than ten years, it could still chill a man to the bone.

The blurred image rising in his mind made the burly man begin to retreat, step by step. He seemed to want to run, yet he also seemed afraid to show his back to the young man across from him.

The plump woman’s voice trembled as well. “Xu Changge... why are you with Ran Qingmo?”

Seeing this, Xu Yuan did not know whether to laugh or cry.

Well. No wonder these two had suddenly gone soft in the knees. So they had mistaken him for Xu Changge.

It looked like these two must have seen Xu Changge before, though that had probably been a very, very long time ago. Otherwise, they would not have mixed him up with Xu Changge.

He and that eldest brother of his only resembled each other around the eyes and brows.

After a second of silence, the burly man also recovered from his fear.

He realized that the person before him could not possibly be Xu Changge. If this man really were the Eldest Young Master of the Chancellor’s Manor, he would never lower himself to using a sneak attack to establish his might.

After all, only recently, Xu Changge had slain a second rank demonic python and brought it back to the imperial capital.

But if this man was not Xu Changge, then who was he?

Xu Chang’an?

Another name surfaced in the burly man’s mind. But hadn’t the Second Young Master of the Chancellor’s Manor not died several years ago?

Thinking this, the burly man stared warily at that face so similar to the one in his memory, took a deep breath, and spoke in a low voice. “Second Young Master Xu, you faked your death for so many years, only for us to run into you here. Truly, this is a flood washing into the Dragon King’s own temple, family failing to recognize family.”

His clear voice rang out, entering the ears of everyone present.

Xu Yuan raised an eyebrow.

This man’s reaction was not slow. If he really had been that eldest brother of his, the dead would certainly not have stopped at that old man.

Still, this fellow would rather believe that his second brother had not died than even consider him.

But very quickly, the plump woman beside him corrected the burly man’s mistake. She shouted in a low voice, “Idiot. Xu Chang’an can’t possibly still be alive!”

The burly man glanced at her.

“Then who is he? In this whole world, besides Xu Chang’an, who else has a face similar to Xu Changge’s?”

Xu Yuan was silent.

“Xu... Xu Changtian?” the plump woman said, her voice uncertain.

The burly man fell silent. The look he gave Xu Yuan became strange, dark, and gloomy.

This was simply absurd.

Their plan had clearly been proceeding smoothly, yet all of a sudden it had turned into this. Not only had that old man from the Celeste Sword Sect’s disciple appeared, now a young master from the Chancellor’s Manor had been added to the mix.

Fortunately, it was not Xu Changge.

In the space of a single breath, the burly man’s gaze gradually grew firm. “Bing Hao, we cannot let them leave. If the Chancellor’s Manor and the Celeste Sword Sect learn of this, then our operation is as good as failed.”

If these two titans learned of their secret scheme, perhaps they would not act against the Myriad Manifestations Sect due to lack of evidence, but the plan into which they had poured several million taels of silver taels into would be completely washed down the drain.

This was something the sect absolutely could not accept.

By now, the plump woman had also calmed down. She said coldly, “You don’t need to tell me. I know.”

Xu Yuan sighed softly, then asked with a low laugh, “Looks like you still intend to keep fighting?”

The two opposite him said nothing more, but their killing intent and source qi both gathered once again.

Seeing this, Xu Yuan sighed. “Ran Qingmo, do it.”

Naturally, he had not wasted so much breath with them just to chat. His own strength was too weak.

The Sage’s remnant soul could use soul power to enhance his physical body, but it could not conjure source qi out of thin air.

And with Xu Yuan’s seventh rank cultivation, using a sword technique of such power as the one just now was clearly unrealistic. So every time he wanted to use it, he first needed the Sage’s remnant soul to use a secret soul art to help him gather a large amount of source qi.

The problem was, gathering source qi took time. That meant Xu Yuan could not spam his heavy-hitting sword techniques the way he had in the illusion.

Now that he had stalled them with nonsense for so long, his cooldown was finally back up.

The instant Xu Yuan’s words fell, the woman dressed in black as dark as ink suddenly moved. Ice Cloud Steps condensed beneath her feet, and she shot straight toward the plump woman.

Xu Yuan’s eyes sharpened as he raised Clear Whisper level before him.

Void Step Slash!

He vanished in an instant, and then reappeared in an instant. His target, the burly man.

The burly man’s pupils shrank slightly. The knotted muscles all over his body swelled violently by a full size. And what swelled along with them was his speed.

Body cultivator. The term flashed instinctively through Xu Yuan’s mind.

But his sword had already gone out, tracing through the air, drawing petal after radiant petal in midair.

Only this time, without the blessing of a first-encounter kill, it failed to cut the burly man down on the spot.

Even so, it still carved a deep sword wound across his chest.

Blood spurted out at once. Ignoring the injury, the burly man drove a fist toward Xu Yuan’s face with a howl of torn air.

Xu Yuan narrowed his eyes. From the blind spot behind him, a spiral bone drill suddenly shot out, flying straight to meet the strong man’s fist.

Though the burly man was a body cultivator, he was no fool. Keenly sensing the sharpness of that bone spike, he twisted his body into a bizarre arc and dodged it by the barest margin.

While Xu Yuan and the burly man exchanged blows, a sword cry rang out from the other side.

Though it had only been an instant, Ran Qingmo was already about to cut down the plump woman.

But at that very moment, the battle suddenly changed.

Without the slightest warning, just like Xu Yuan’s sudden appearance earlier, a viscous black substance abruptly shot up from the mountain forest below, hurtling straight toward Ran Qingmo.

Xu Yuan caught sight of it from the corner of his eye, and his brow lifted slightly. He... why isn't he dead?

The one who had attacked from the ground was none other than the old man Xu Yuan had just beheaded.