Long Feiye carefully took the man’s pulse before believing his words. Beyond his surprise, he was a little stunned. When he was learning the sword, his master had occasionally brought up the Heretical Sword Sect’s swordsmanship and internal cultivation ways. All he said was that they were unrighteous methods that would lead one to bad ends because of their hasty paths. He only knew that their internal cultivation way was call the Heretical Sword Heart Way, which would eventually lead to a backlash after the cultivator reached a certain level.
He was neither knowledgeable nor interested in the rest, but now it looked like their skills were no inferior to the Nirvana arts of Celestial Mountain Sword Sect. If not for his deviation, the one-armed man might have even better sword skills. Perhaps they’d even be on par to challenge each other. In other words, the Heretical Sword Sect’s damaging practices weren’t irreversible as long as the practitioner found an appropriate treasure sword. Then they could even surpass the Nirvana Heart Arts of the Celestial Mountain Sword Sect!
Because the one-armed man had exceptionally sword skills, he needed the Moye sword spirit to help him. Other disciples of the Heretical Sword Sect might be able to settle for something less powerful. There were only so many treasure swords in the world, but plenty of other swords in existence. With the rightly cast materials, a swordsmith could create a fine blade. Long Feiye’s Lustbite energy was much stronger than either sect’s cultivation ways, but a single person wasn’t capable of shouldering the entire martial arts world. Nor did one man equate to the entire jianghu!
“Who was your master?” Long Feiye asked.
“I’ve told you already, master’s from the Heretical Sword Sect, but he’s long distanced himself from sect affairs! It’s been years since he’s bothered with the secular world!” the one-armed man was trying to tell Long Feiye not to disturb his master.
But it was impossible for Long Feiye to back down after finding out this much!
“What’s his name? Why did he force you to cultivate this sword art?” Long Feiye pressed.
The one-armed man fell silent.
“You don’t have the right to remain silent. Are you talking or not?” Long Feiye’s cold voice was filled with warnings. But the one-armed man remained mute.
“If you talk, I’ll pretend nothing happened today. You can take the proprietress and leave Qingzhou Water City while I smooth over things here. If you don’t talk, then…” Han Yunxi looked around. “The commotion here was so huge that the authorities should be on their way over by now.”
Long Feiye used threats, while Han Yunxi used mercy. But the one-armed man only cried, “I can’t betray my master! He’s already left the Heretical Sword Sect and has nothing to do with them anymore. Just let him go!”
“I won’t cause trouble for anyone who’s not a Heretical Sword Sect member,” Long Feiye said icily. How many good people could they have?
This one-armed man was a swordsmith, but he’d been forced to cultivate martial arts. Long Feiye couldn’t help but think that things couldn’t be that simple, nor was he necessarily being used.
Just then, Xu Donglin muttered, “Master, the shadow guards reported that the government authorities are heading this way. Should we block them or--”
“No need! Invite them over,” Long Feiye said coldly.
“I’ll talk!” the one-armed man exclaimed.
Only then did Long Feiye wave to let Xu Donglin block the authorities with his men.
“You don’t have much time,” Long Feiye reminded the man icily. In other words, he had no chance to lie.
The one-armed man steeled his heart and told the truth. “My master is Heretical Sword Sect’s former sect leader, Bai Shanqing.” [1]
Long Feiye immediately understood after hearing the name. There were rarely any good seeds in Heretical Sword Sect, but Bai Shanqing could be considered one of the respective members. He’d never seen the man himself, but he heard his master mention him in the past. This Bai Shanqing was an odd and mysterious figure who had different talents since youth. Because he was adopted by the Heretical Sword Sect master, he learned its Heretical Sword Heart Arts and swordsmanship. Once the old sect master passed away, he was pushed into the position in his place. During his rule, the disciples of Heretical Sword Sect were kept in check. He had even discussed with Long Feiye’s master, Li Jianxin, about the two sects starting over to work together. Unfortunately, the good times didn’t last. After emerging from one of his closed cultivation periods, Bai Shanqing underwent deviation and killed ten of his sect’s disciples. From then on, he resigned from the position and vanished from the jianghu.
The one-armed man looked seriously at Long Feiye. “Your Excellency’s sword skills are exquisite. I expect you must be a peak disciple of Celestial Mountain and so have heard of my master’s name before. Although my master--”
Long Feiye cut him off. The name “Bai Shanqing” was enough to explain everything. “Why did he force you to learn swordsmanship?” he asked.
The one-armed man replied helplessly, “Master said I had a unique innate talent. As long as there was a treasure sword to support me, I could definitely finish cultivating the Heretical Sword Heat Arts, thus fulfilling his life’s vow.”
Long Feiye’s eyes flashed with complex emotions. It looked like Bai Shanqing had long discovered the way to deal with Heretical Sword Heart Ats, but he had never returned to the sect with the information. Most likely, he didn’t want to start a dispute between it and Celestial Mountain. After all, if the Heretical Sword Sect members learned this information, they would never resign themselves to staying below Celestial Mountain, but would vie with the sect for the most respected spot in the martial arts circles. If Celestial Mountain Sword Sect learned of the information, they would dread Heretical Sword Sect as well and move against them.
The one-armed man was ignorant to the ways of the jianghu, so even if he mastered the Heretical Sword Heart Arts once day, it was unlikely he’d set foot in that world.
“On behalf of your master, you two can leave,” Long Feiye said.
Thrilled, the one-armed man couldn’t help but ask. “You...just who are you? You know my master?”
“When you see your master, tell him that the sword sect master’s disciple Long Feiye wishes him well,” Long Feiye replied.
Now the one-armed man was stunned. “You...you’re East Qin’s crown prince!”
Although he knew nothing of the jianghu, he had heard of Long Feiye. Without hesitation, he bowed towards him before picking up the proprietress and preparing to leave. But Han Yunxi called him back.
“You two, don’t go!”
Alarmed, the one-armed man assumed that Long Feiye had regretted letting them go, but Han Yunxi simply told Long Feiye, “Have them come with us. Let’s all think of a way to save his arm.”
Dumbfounded, the one-armed man looked at them incredulously. He was already surprised that Long Feiye was willing to release them on account of his master, but never expected Han Yunxi to make such an offer. She had even poisoned him before and warned her with a venomous, vicious tongue.
Han Yunxi had no idea who Bai Shanqing was or why Long Feiye would let them go so easily, but she knew he always did things with reason. Naturally, she had her reasons too. Since she spoke up, Long Feiye couldn’t very well refuse. Gu Qishao had even less objections. The group quickly left Yinyang Lake and returned to the proprietress’s True Love store.
After settling down the proprietress, the one-armed man returned and personally served them all tea. Gu Qishao glanced at the cup and didn’t even touch it. Although he wasn’t as addicted to tea as Long Feiye, he was very picky about his leaves. Judging by the color of this one, he knew it was a coarse brew. But Long Feiye simply drank without a change in expression, not minding it in the last. Han Yunxi cradled her cup and seemed to drink, but didn’t down more than a mouthful. It had been a long time since she drank any tea.
When everyone had rested for a while, Han Yunxi spoke up. “I haven’t asked after your surname yet.”
The one-armed man rose hastily to his feet. “This one is surnamed Ye, named Xiao. This madam...must be the West Qin princess, right?”
“You can just call me Han Yunxi,” Han Yunxi replied.
Sighing internally with emotion, the one-armed man couldn’t help but admit defeat before this couple. Han Yunxi didn’t waste words but got straight to the point. “Ye Xiao, how about we make a deal?”
“I’d like to hear the details,” Ye Xiao[2] replied seriously.
“Long Feiye and I will find a way to help you save your arm. In exchange, agree to one of my terms,” Han Yunxi said.
“What kind of terms?” Ye Xiao asked hastily.
“Keep things a secret!” Han Yunxi said earnestly. “Don’t mention any details to anyone about everything that happened at Yinyang Lake!”
Ye Xiao quickly agreed. “Princess, don’t worry. This one won’t leak a word!”
Han Yunxi nodded. “I’ll trust you on that.” She looked towards Long Feiye and asked, “If I borrow your Profound Frost Sword for a bit, what do you think?”
Profound Frost Sword was Celestial Mountain’s number one blade. Moreover, it had followed Long Feiye for so many years that it had grown more powerful with the application of its master’s internal energy.
“You’re rather bright!” Long Feiye smiled.
Nobody else had ever touched Profound Frost Sword besides Han Yunxi ever since the blade landed in his possession. However, how could he not agree when she requested it outright? If the Moye sword spirit had a sword body, it would be stronger than Profound Frost Sword. However, this blade was powerful as well. Long Feiye had already determined the extent of Ye Xiao’s internal injuries after taking his pulse and knew where things stood.
Han Yunxi grinned, “Are you lending it or not?”
Helpless, Long Feiye told Ye Xiao, “Join me in closed door cultivation for three days.”
Ye Xiao was delighted, but quickly grew worried. “Lin Ge, she…”
Lin Ge[3] was the proprietress’s name. Once she woke up, no one knew how she’d react. Han Yunxi narrowed her eyes and said ruthlessly, “Don’t you worry. I promise she won’t wake up until after you finished closed door cultivation.” She had plenty of poisons to keep her unconscious.
Before Ye Xiao could speak again, Han Yunxi interrupted to add, “If you waste any more words, then the deal’s off.”
Without a choice, Ye Xiao could only agree. Just like that, he and Long Feiye shut themselves up for three days while Han Yunxi and Gu Qishao busied themselves cleaning up after the couple. They found two shadow guards to plea their guilt at the government office and hand over a poisoned dagger to boot. Naturally, Han Yunxi had applied the toxin herself--one that was impossible to detect by normal poison doctors except for the likes of Bai Yanqing.
Her move this time was calculated against Ban Yanqing! Suppose he heard of the Qingzhou Water City murders and came to suspect the Qi Sha dagger? He would definitely come investigat. Since he was looking for the Perplexing Butterfly Illusion, he should also know the various ingredients associated with it that were capable of destroying his undying body. Thus, they would have to take precautions when searching for Fire of Ten-Thousand Poisons, too.
The two shadow guards who went to plea their guilt would have to suffer being imprisoned under the furor passed. Then somebody else would come to bail them out. Han Yunxi and Gu Qishao also gave the families of the victims a large amount of silver to compensate them for their losses. It was probably more than what they would have gotten if the government caught the real culprits.
For many things, a perfect end was impossible, nor was right and wrong clearly delineated. Han Yunxi told herself that it was good enough to try their best.
Three days later, Long Feiye and Ye Xiao emerged from their closed door cultivation....
1. Bai Shanqing (白山青) - literally “white, mountain, youth/grass/blue/green.”
2. Ye Xiao (叶骁) - Ye is “leaf,” Xiao is “valiant, brave, spirited.”
3. Lin Ge (林歌) - her name means “forest song.”