At last, they saw Long Feiye!
Before Long Feiye even reached the Medicine Requesting Cave, Tang Li dashed into the medicinal plant fields and shouted and waved. “Big bro! Over here, over here!”
Tang Li was beside himself with excitement, but Long Feiye simply rode past him on horseback, drowning him in a cloud of dust. Gu Beiyue was standing by the entrance of the cave while Gu Qishao had blocked its entrance entirely, arms crossed over his chest. As soon as Long Feiye dismounted, he reached out a hand to shove Gu Qishao aside. Gu Qishao simply caught his hand, but Long Feiye slapped him aside and walked with wide strides into the cavern.
Both Gu Qishao and Gu Beiyue exchanged looks before hurrying after him without a word. Tang Li was the last to enter, also keeping a close distance. Pill Furnace Master had long disabled all the switches and traps in the Medicine Requesting Cave, allowing the quartet to reach the pill refining cave quickly. Long Feiye stood there expressionlessly while the other three men were stunned by the sight.
Within the pill refining cavern stood three people: Pill Furnace Master, Ye Xiao, and the proprietress. The latter was sitting quietly to one side while dangling a bone in her hand, completely lost in her own little world. She took no notice of her surroundings or the people around her. Pill Furnace Master and Ye Xiao were standing on top of the Celestial Fire Qian Furnace with bare arms and sweat dripping down their bodies. Both of their faces had been dyed red by the fire within the furnace. Pill Furnace Master had truly attached importance to his task by clearing out all the contents of the Celestial Fire Qian Furnace and opening up every level so he could use his inner energy to cast the treasured blade. The multiple small openings in the furnace showed visions of a sword glimmering in the flames within, as if waiting for its master’s summons. Everyone was in admiration at the sight. This truly was a mystical weapon! Only a mystical tool of equal accord could create such a blade in such a short time capable of housing the ancient Moye sword spirit.
No wonder Pill Furnace Master and Ye Xiao needed Long Feiye and the others here to edge the sword. Judging from the circ.u.mstances, the two men had no strength to even summon the sword from the furnace. When Pill Furnace Master saw that they had all arrived, he and Ye Xiao were quite gratified. Although it was regretful to not see Han Yunxi with them, the two of them had at least managed to finish the sword before the dual cultivation deadline was up. This too, was a sliver of hope to completing the dual cultivation successfully, was it not?
Long Feiye would be able to wholeheartedly search for Han Yunxi after gaining this sword, would he not?
Pill Furnace Master’s gaze rested a while longer on Gu Qishao’s form before he swallowed back the words rising in his throat. Gu Qishao had written to ask for his help crafting the sword with the Celestial Fire Qian Furnace and he’d immediately accepted. Although this child had never admitted his own ident.i.ty as Little Loony, Pill Furnace Master wasn’t attached to the answer anymore. He just needed to know that he was Little Loony and see him once in a while. Knowing he was living well was enough.
“Young men, come over here! Use your strength to call out the treasured blade!” Pill Furnace Master said loudly.
Gu Qishao was the first to step forward, but Long Feiye raised an arm to block him. Gu Qishao knitted his brows at the man, who ignored him to look coldly at the furnace. In the next second, he’d taken to the skies. Gu Qishao prepared to follow, but Gu Beiyue stopped him next. “Let His Highness go by himself. That’s the sword he wants to gift to the princess.”
Pill Furnace Master and Ye Xiao saw Long Feiye stop Gu Qishao and rush forward himself. Both men had enough tact to get out of his way.
This fellow wants to call out the sword by himself? How wildly arrogant! But with his vigorous internal energy, he had the right to be so presumptuous. He was even capable of taming the Ganjiang sword, much less a newly forged sword. Although this blade was stronger than multiple other treasure blades in the world, it still couldn’t compare to the King of Ten Thousand Blades, Ganjiang.
Pill Furnace Master and Ye Xiao withdrew, leaving Long Feiye alone atop the lofty Celestial Fire Qian Furnace. His expression was cold, his eyes icy and hooded. Although he was looking at the sword inside, it seemed like he was lording over them from the highest Heavens instead. Beneath the fire light, his slim form looked both desolate and frigid. How could anything else enter his eyes except Han Yunxi?
Perched on the edge of the furnace’s opening, he raised one hand expressionlessly while the other rested behind his back. What seemed difficult in the eyes of others was as simply as flipping a palm in his case. As he clutched at air, a clatter rose from within the furnace. The sword inside was shuddering as it flew up from the flames. Seeing this, Gu Beiyue was thoroughly impressed, much less Gu Qishao. However, Tang Li saw past Long Feiye’s might to his silent solitude. Over the past three months, he had been searching everywhere for Long Feiye. Now that he finally saw him in the flesh, he witnessed a Long Feiye he’d never seen before.
Too similar!
No, it’s more extreme than before.
The current Long Feiye was just like the young Long Feiye who stopped speaking for a year in the past.[1] But now he embodied a man’s loneliness and an unspeakable sadness. Was it not a source of tragedy for someone so strong to be incapable of protecting his most beloved person?
As Tang Li’s thoughts began to wander, there was a ma.s.sive rumble before the Celestial Fire Qian Furnace began to rock violently. It seemed it would fall over at any second, spilling its flames to burn through everything here. Despite this, Long Feiye stood as still as a mountain, unmoving. His hand suddenly formed into a first and the treasure sword shot straight up into the air like a bolt of sword qi!
The sword had emerged from the furnace!
Although the sword had yet to be imbibed with a spirit, it had a life of its own. Its radiance was like a rainbow, strong and powerful as it raced towards the ceiling. It seemed to yearn for escape from this place, defying anyone who tried to subdue it.
But how could Long Feiye allow that to happen? This was the sword he was going to gift Han Yunxi! He flew up and spread out his hands. Gu Qishao felt the sword he was bearing on his shoulders shudder. Before he could react, the Ganjiang blade resting on his back flew out of the fake zither case and into Long Feiye’s hands. Using nothing but pure sword qi, Long Feiye cleaved towards the flying blade from the furnace. The two swords clanged violently in mid-air, causing everyone’s ears to ring as their hearts thudded in their chests. Although Long Feiye didn’t add any extra power to his swing, the sheer might of the Ganjiang sword was already terrible. There were simply no weapons in the world capable of bearing its strikes. However, the newly forged blade took the blow without any damage.
Only then did everyone realize Long Feiye had merely been testing the blade. Only a sword like this could bear the burden of Moye’s sword spirit and be a fitting match to Ganjiang and Han Yunxi! Awed and frightened by the Ganjiang sword, the new blade stopped trying to flee and floated beneath its superior in mid-air in a show of submission.
Long Feiye grabbed the sword hilt before descending to the ground. He carefully examined the blade and observed that its surface was like frost, cool and glittering. However, the sword hilt seem to glow with the light of earthly fire. It was hard to tell whether he was pleased by his expression, but the fact that he was holding the sword in his hand had to be a sign of approval. Everyone landed by his side as Pill Furnace Master hastened to say, “Your Highness, please edge the sword officially!”
“The diamond’s already been prepared, it’s right on the side!” Ye Xiao added seriously.
Diamonds were the hardest substance on this Earth and the best tool to sharpen sword edges. Very few people possessed them, but as a swordmaker, Ye Xiao numbered amongst them. Without a word, Long Feiye simply looked upon the sword in his hand. Everyone else exchanged looks, wondering what to do. When Han Yunxi was here, this man was also taciturn and rarely spoke more than a few lines a day. Now that she was gone, who else could persuade him to speak?
While they were feeling helpless, Long Feiye suddenly spoke up. “I’ll leave it for her to do.”
So speaking, he turned and left, leaving the crowd exchanging looks again. Instead of answering Pill Furnace Master or Ye Xiao’s suggestions, he had simply muttered to himself.
Where was he going?
After the south central regions found peace, he left the army behind him. Occasionally, one got news of his whereabouts from the shadow guards. Like Gu Qishao, he seemed to be running all over the place, looking for Han Yunxi. Without a single clue, he searched every possible location--including the highly suspect Poison Sect forbidden grounds. He even went to the caved-in underground palace and was nearly trapped inside, but still found no signs of that woman. Gu Beiyue and the rest would never know of the fear hidden in his heart. Ever since finding out Han Yunxi came from the future, he would always grow uneasy when she was out of sight. Not everyone in the world could live by cheris.h.i.+ng a memory. Some people had to be kept close to soothe one’s heart.
“Big bro!” Tang Li was the first to recover and chase after him. Gu Beiyue soon outpaced him and reached Long Feiye’s back. Since he was now in their sights, Gu Beiyue wouldn’t let him disappear again. Perhaps looking after him for the sake of the princess was also a form of protection? Although he couldn’t protect the princess now, he could at least protect her source of happiness.
Long Feiye mounted his horse just as Tang Li dashed out. “Big bro, don’t be like this! My sister-in-law would be miserable if she knew! Big bro, I actually--”
Tang Li wanted to admit that he’d told Han Yunxi about Long Feiye’s childhood, but Xu Donglin suddenly rushed onto the scene at this moment. He couldn’t find his master at all these days, so he’d been following after Gu Beiyue. Now he didn’t even have time to greet his master as he anxiously gave the doctor a letter. “This just came from Medical City, they said it’s an urgent message for you to review personally. You must reply as soon as you can!”
Just what kind of emergency message had come from Medical City? Was it news of Han Yunxi?
Long Feiye paused on his horse and asked coldly, “What is it?”
As expected, only matters related to Han Yunxi could make him open his mouth…
1. This would be the little LFY who witnessed his mother’s suicide firsthand.