“Killing intent!” Qianye suddenly became alert and reached out to grab the sword on his knees.
Yet his movements were still a tiny bit too slow. A wisp of frigid intent touched the back of his neck. Any other expert wouldn’t dare to move at all because that was a vital point, and the sharp, penetrative aura could easily snap his cervical bones.
Qianye, however, turned back with a wry smile. “This isn’t funny.”
Behind him, Li Kuanglan was once again dressed in a swordsman’s attire. Although Cold Moon’s embrace hadn’t left its sheath, a wisp of sword energy was stretching out toward Qianye’s neck.
Li Kuanglan didn’t retract the energy despite Qianye turning back, which brought the energy right in front of his throat.
Qianye frowned slightly. No matter how powerful his body was, his throat was still a weak point, and Li Kuanglan’s sword energy was known for its sharpness—even Qianye wouldn’t be able to stand a slash to the throat.
Li Kuanglan stared at Qianye with killing intent in her eyes. This puzzled Qianye quite a bit. “Kuanglan, what’s gotten into you?”
Who would’ve thought Li Kuanglan would become enraged? “Kuanglan is not for you to call!”
Qianye felt even more bewildered because he had called her by name more than once now. He had already considered her a comrade since their battle against the Wolf King and naturally started addressing her differently.
Seeing Li Kuanglan reacting so strongly, Qianye decided to change his address. “Young n.o.ble Li, what is the meaning of this? I didn’t let you know my movements just so you can ambush me.”
Li Kuanglan snorted. “This young n.o.ble doesn’t need to ambush you! You think I can’t slaughter you with just me and my sword?”
Qianye stood up, ignoring the sword energy at his neck. “I fear you cannot. Besides, what did I do that you would need to do so?”
“You…” Li Kuanglan was stoppered up, and her face flushed red. Soon, her anger turned to frustration. “Can’t explain it to you!”
Qianye was at a loss. Her blade energy was at his throat, yet she still couldn’t explain? When was she going to explain then? After lopping his head off?
Li Kuanglan knew she had just lost her composure. She quickly calmed down and retracted her sword energy, saying, “Let it be, I’ll remember this for now. We’ll settle accounts later on. Let me ask you, must you really save Song Seven?”
“Of course.”
“What if I want to kill him?”
Qianye couldn’t figure out what was going on. “Why would you want to kill him, when did he offend you?”
Li Kuanglan wanted to speak but seemed hesitant. “He… humph! Let me ask you, what will you do if I want to kill him?”
Qianye’s expression turned serious. “I’ll stop you, of course! Young n.o.ble Li, please stop joking about such things.”
Li Kaunglan took deep breaths, slowly calming herself down. “As it should be… Fine. Since you want to save him, there’s an opportunity before you. Learn this.”
Qianye caught the booklet Li Kuanglan had tossed at him and found that it was a certain art. Although he didn’t know the details, he could see from the framework that it was related to divination.
“After cultivating this Heart Reflection, one can form a connection with other cultivators of the same art. Both parties will be able to tell if the other party is speaking the truth. Luo Bingfeng gave it to you.”
“What for?”
“Luo Bingfeng has agreed to exchange Mortal Enlightenment and Song Zining for your Venus Dawn cultivation art, and I’ve already agreed in your stead. This Heart Reflection is to ensure the transaction goes smoothly.”
“You! How… Fine, these terms aren’t bad.” Qianye’s mood transformed drastically, but he ultimately accepted his helplessness. This was the outcome he had been waiting for, perhaps the best.
“They didn’t do anything to Zining, did they?”
“Luo Bingfeng promises that Song Seven is alive and uncrippled. As for whether he’s starved or physically tortured, he didn’t say.”
Qianye heaved a long sigh, saying, “That’s great then. When will the transaction take place, and how long does this Heart Reflection take to learn?”
“It can be cultivated in one day. We meet at noon two days later, where Song Seven was captured.”
Qianye hesitated for a moment. “Can Luo Bingfeng even come to that place?”
“He won’t, as far as I know.”
Qianye heaved a sigh of relief. “That’ll be best.”
Li Kuanglan’s expression was odd. “Are you planning to give him a fake? I would suggest you don’t if you don’t have the full version. Heart Reflection’s powers are fairly mysterious. Everyone would be cultivating it if it weren’t for the high requirements and excessive expenditure. The art will respond if you tell a lie.”
Qianye shook his head. “Why would I go back on my words if they’re willing to release Song Zining? But there are some problems with my cultivation art. I’m just afraid the other party will change their minds after seeing its contents. It’s good if Luo Bingfeng isn’t coming because no one else will unseal such an important item.”
Li Kuanglan became curious after hearing Qianye say so. “There are problems with your cultivation art? Is it impossible to cultivate?”
“Of course it can be cultivated. It’s just that… the difficulty is a bit high.” Qianye almost blushed as he comforted himself. He actually wasn’t lying—it was somewhat hard to cultivate the Combatant Formula to the Profound Combatant Formula. The fiftieth tide, in particular, was a bit more difficult. That Song Clan Ancient Scroll was also ‘a bit’ difficult. Actually, the Mystery Chapter wasn’t too difficult; the hard part was cultivating both at the same time...
Just that.
Li Kuanglan felt relieved. “So that’s how it is. Which peerless cultivation art isn’t difficult? Don’t worry, I’ve seen a good number of legendary secret arts. All of them have weird requirements, and some are almost impossible to cultivate. With Luo Bingfeng’s knowledge, he naturally won’t make things difficult for you because of this. He can only blame himself for his lack of talent if he can’t cultivate it.”
Qianye felt much more relieved. “Those are reasonable words!”
Li Kuanglan became ineffably agitated. “Enough with the flattery and go get ready! Make a copy of your cultivation art and seal it, lest you have nothing to hand over during the transaction.”
With that, Li Kuanglan tossed her backpack to Qianye, saying, “The things you need are in here, I’m leaving now.”
She then left without waiting for Qianye to say goodbye.
The latter opened the bag to find special paper, ink, and a number of sealing boxes. He couldn’t help but sigh at Li Kuanglan’s meticulousness.
Copying down a secret art was also an art. Copying it word by word would only produce the lowest-level of copies that didn’t have much use. The highest level cultivation arts couldn’t be copied this way, either. Those arts contained numerous unspeakable profundities, so the author would usually leave some origin power to demonstrate the explanations.
That was what made the n.o.ble cultivation arts so valuable. The authors were usually their founding fathers or leaders of resurgence, at the very least well-known experts. Their comprehension of the martial dao would be left for future generations as a supreme treasure.
In order to better preserve origin power, countless people had racked their brains and experimented with all kinds of retaining materials. Hence, there were materials of all shapes and colors. The national treasure, a secret record hand-written by the founding ancestor, was reportedly recorded in a piece of origin crystal.
Both the Mortal Enlightenment and Dawn of Scarlet Gold were hand-written by Luo Bingfeng and the mysterious lady. They couldn’t be faked.
Now that Qianye was going to write a secret tome, he naturally required special paper, pen, and boxes.
What Li Kuanglan didn’t know was that the Combatant Formula could actually be copied on any random paper. It would be an absolute waste to use this special paper fit for origin power inheritances.
As for the Profound Combatant Formula, it could only be comprehended and not transmitted. Not to mention the fact that Qianye couldn’t write it down, even if he could, there was no vessel capable of containing the power of its vortex.
Hence, the preparations were much quicker than Li Kuanglan had imagined. Qianye had finished copying the three secret tomes in little over two hours. The two Song Clan Ancient Scrolls took two hours, while the Combatant Formula, just ten minutes—and that was only because Qianye was writing slowly and carefully. If he was pressed for time, all he needed to do was write the words, Combatant Formula.
Every cultivator under the sky had heard of the Combatant Formula.
…
Back in Tidehark, Luo Yun was narrating his successful negotiation with Li Kuanglan in full detail. After hearing that Li Kuanglan had agreed to the deal, the city lord praised with a delighted expression, “Well done!”
Luo Yun, on the other hand, appeared worried. “City Lord, the madam won’t agree to this, will she?”
“We can’t let her know about this.” Luo Bingfeng reminded carefully. His frown only relaxed when the steward agreed.
That frown had just relaxed when it knitted together once more.
Luo Bingfeng paced around the room, saying, “But Song Zining is currently in the Wolf King’s hands. Now that’s somewhat difficult. Is there any news from their side?”
Luo Yun replied, “None so far.”
Luo Bingfeng narrowed his eyes. “No reply, heh, how bold! It looks like I’m being looked down upon just because I’ve been in isolated cultivation for many years.”
These words contained killing intent. Luo Yun stood to the side, not daring to face the city lord’s wrath. The Wolf King’s outstanding power was evident from how he was able to challenge Zhang Buzhou. His sin would be significant if Luo Bingfeng and the Wolf King were to clash because of an inappropriate comment.
Luo Bingfeng said, “How did his injury look when you met him last time?”
Luo Yun replied cautiously, “I can’t see through the state of his injury, but large amounts of ancestral power have been applied to certain areas inside Totemic Castle. Additionally, I noticed that they’re preparing for some kind of large scale sacrificial ceremony."
Luo Bingfeng sneered, “Using ancestral power means either war or recuperation. It looks like the Wolf King was heavily injured. That makes things easier, you go to Totemic Castle again and tell the Wolf King that I’ll come personally if he doesn’t release the prisoner.”
Luo Yun was shocked out of his wits. “City Lord, you…”