Gu Qishao had shown up, but where were the suspects? It was clear that the bones hanging off his body were from the victims of the Qi Sha dagger. Long Feiye was almost at his limits holding off the Moye sword qi. His eyes flashed unhappily before he withdrew his sword and swerved to one side.
At the same time, the Moye sword qi lashed out, whistling past his back. He quickly raised his weapon and slashed towards Gu Qishao. When Han Yunxi and the rest witnessed this act, they stopped in the middle of going to help.
What was Long Feiye doing?
“F**k! Long Feiye, what do you mean by this?!” Gu Qishao hollered. Despite being missing for days, his temper was the same as always.
Still, Long Feiye’s sword qi hadn’t reached Gu Qishao before a strong sword qi rose from the right to knock it off course.
The suspects had finally revealed themselves!
Alarmed, Long Feiye realized the mystery sword qi was twice as strong as he expected. People who could knock his sword qi off course could be counted with his fingers. Both he and Gu Qishao turned to the right to see a man hovering in the air. He was wearing a mask of human bones and wielded a sword in his left hand. His right sleeve was hollow and empty because of a missing arm.
He was the one-armed man from True Love!
But where’s the proprietress? And the Qi Sha dagger?
Han Yunxi didn’t sense the Qi Sha poison in the air and grew guarded before she muttered, “Xu Donglin, the proprietress isn’t here yet. Looks like both of them were present on the day Cui Yun was murdered. The shadow guards only saw her and not this one-armed man.”
That day, the man must have killed the guards while the woman used the time to collect her bones. Otherwise, they couldn’t have moved so quickly. Han Yunxi had no time to wonder why the duo hadn’t thrown the other six corpses in the lake as well instead of setting a big fire at the justice department. She would leave the man to Gu Qishao and Long Feiye while she and Xu Donglin made preparations against the proprietress. After all, she didn’t have a way to cure the poison on the Qi Sha dagger in her hands!
At the same time, the Moye sword qi rose to fill all of Yinyang Lake. Long Feiye didn’t go capture the suspects after they showed up; instead, he slashed his blade at Gu Qishao again. Unexpectedly, so did the enemy, raising a tongue of blue flame.
“Swordfire!” Long Feiye grew alarmed. So called swordfire was created when a swordsmith channeled the quintessence of the furnace into a blade after ten to twenty years’ experience forging swords. Even water couldn’t put it out! Its only enemy was a swordfire stronger than itself. Again and again, his opponent’s sword skills exceeded Long Feiye’s expectations. Someone with this level of ability isn’t a Celestial Mountain sword sect disciple?
Just as Long Feiye prepared to extinguish the swordfire, Gu Qishao used momentum from the vines to throw himself at the flames! In that instant, Long Feiye almost cursed him for “seeking death” until he realized something was wrong. It seemed like Gu Qishao had been waiting for that very moment. Just what had he done during the days he went missing? What was he planning now?
Long Feiye didn’t stop him, so the swordfire hit Gu Qishao head-on and lit all of the bones hanging off his body on fire. Inexplicably, they burst into black flames. As the inferno raged on, everyone could feel an evil chill stole into the air. It was then that the enemy abruptly hacked the vines by the lakesh.o.r.e while Gu Qishao, surrounded in a ball of flames, fell into the water. The Moye sword qi collecting on its surface immediately rushed towards him, exacerbating the black flames. Everyone could sense sword qi shooting up intermittently from the bottom of the lake as well.
Han Yunxi never expected this to happen. She saw Gu Qishao rise to meet the flames, but couldn’t bother wondering why. Right now, her only thought was that he would die!
She suddenly exclaimed, “Gu Qishao! Gu Qishao’s going to die! Long Feiye, hurry and save him!”
Long Feiye both had the skills and ability to rescue Gu Qishao! Although the one-armed man had strong swordsmans.h.i.+p, it still couldn’t compare to his own. Otherwise, his initial attack would have shattered Long Feiye’s sword qi entirely instead of diverting it to one side. Because Long Feiye’s sword qi could break through the one-armed man’s, he could overpower the swordfire as well. But if he did, then the Moye sword spirit would be forever lost at the bottom of the lake. He had no idea why Gu Qishao acted the way he did, but one thing was certain: Gu Qishao was aiming for the Moye sword spirit.
Long Feiye was deliberating on whether or not to “save” him when Han Yunxi suddenly stopped shouting and looked to the left. “Long Feiye, watch out for poison!”
Long Feiye immediately took to the skies just as a dagger flew past his feet. This was none other than Qi Sha. He moved to grab its handle, but the one-armed man was much closer to the weapon. He used his sword to sweep the dagger viciously towards Gu Qishao. Everything happened so quickly that no one had time to react, much less stop him.
Like that, everyone witnessed the dagger shoot into the flaming ball of fire that swallowed up Gu Qishao. Blood dripped from the orb, gradually increasing its flow until Han Yunxi saw it all too clearly.
“Save him, ah!” Han Yunxi screamed as soon as she recovered her wits.
She flew over, but it was already too late. The fireball sank completely in the water and lit the whole lake aflame like a giant furnace. Han Yunxi finally understood: the seven female corpses, the Qi Sha dagger, and the swordfire, when combined with Gu Qishao himself, was supposed to forge a sword using Yinyang Lake! As long as the sword was completed, the Moye sword spirit would adhere to the new blade.
Abominable! What do they take Gu Qishao for?!
Finally, the proprietress emerged from the forest and landed next to the one-armed man. She looked at the raging flames and smiled. “So pretty.”
“As long as you like it,” the one-armed man replied.
Han Yunxi’s fury dashed to the skies. “Tell me how to stop this or else I’ll kill you both!” She had no idea if there was still time to salvage the situation once the flames died down. This was her only solution.
The proprietress only regarded Han Yunxi with disdain while the man ignored her entirely. Long Feiye caught up to them, his mind filled with doubts. He was very clear that Gu Qishao wouldn’t die; in fact, the man might even take control over the newly forged sword. But how was he supposed to explain this to Han Yunxi? In fact, he’d rather not explain at all and leave it to Gu Qishao himself! It was only fair for Gu Qishao to shoulder his own consequences for hiding the facts from Han Yunxi in the first place!
In the end, Long Feiye just stopped caring to wait for Gu Qishao to emerge from the flames unharmed. His job should be protecting Han Yunxi, so he didn’t mind playing the ignoramus! What he feared wasn’t her tears, but her temper.
“You crazy woman, what do you know of true love?!” Han Yunxi fumed at the proprietress.
She laughed and said, “Are you asking me? Even if I told you, you wouldn’t understand.”
“I’ll tell you what true love means!” Han Yunxi was so filled with killing intent that she didn’t even notice Long Feiye’s uncertain expression. She suddenly grabbed Long Feiye’s Profound Frost Sword and made a surprise attack on the one-armed man. He pulled the proprietress out of the way with him, making her laugh even louder.
Han Yunxi kept attacking while Long Feiye shadowed her footsteps but didn’t interfere. He knew that Han Yunxi’s true purpose didn’t lay with using her blade. As expected, the moment the man dodged, Han Yunxi’s other hand released dozens of needles after him. Unlike her old weak and messy shots, this one had speed and purpose. All of them were difficult to evade and perfectly arranged to cover up blind spots. Thus, avoiding one would put the victim in the way of another like an inescapable formation.
The one-armed man was finally alarmed as he realized she was no simple foe. Unfortunately, it was already too late! Two needles. .h.i.t their mark, then three more as he strove to protect the proprietress. As he landed with her on the ground, his bones began to ache intensely even as he pulled the proprietress behind him.
Han Yunxi and Long Feiye landed as well, the latter demanding of the woman, “Do you love him? Do you understand what true love is? If you do, then tell me how to stop this swordfire. Otherwise, I promise all the bones in his body will shatter into pieces within the time it takes to brew a cup of tea!”
The proprietress was quick at taking bones out of the body, but even her speed couldn’t compare to Han Yunxi’s poisons!
But it was the one-armed man who spoke up instead. “The sword spirit’s already been called out, so it’s impossible to put out the fire. Killing me wouldn’t make a difference.”
“If you die, she’ll definitely have a miserable time of it. I promise!” Han Yunxi grew more ruthless before she said in a sinister tone, “Unless you kill her yourself before you peris.h.!.+”
Her words stunned the one-armed man as well as Long Feiye. He thought that Han Yunxi had made the wrong gamble at first by poisoning the man instead of the woman since his affections seemed stronger. But she had used this method to threaten the one-armed man instead.
That’s right. If he dies, what becomes of the proprietress?
“You don’t have much time left! If Gu Qishao dies, I’ll make you both pay!” Han Yunxi threatened.
Finally, the one-armed man was spurred into panic. “If you help me treat the poison, I’ll stop the swordfire.”
“You don’t have the right to talk terms with me!” Han Yunxi raged.
The proprietress simply kept smiling like a playful child, or perhaps a heartless spectator to the scene. The one-armed man looked at her with a face full of helpless doting. He had no choice but to lift his sword, yet...