A silent sector of ruins.
Dan Heng walked in silence; everything around him was incomparably unfamiliar.
Yet, he was like a wanderer returning to his native soil after a long absence. Even though the Scalegorge Waterscape had been destroyed and reduced to a desolate forbidden ground, he could still find the correct passage among the complex paths.
This was his birthplace.
Stepping through the grass, Dan Heng's footsteps abruptly paused. The surrounding air temperature dropped amidst a wave of chill, causing startled seabirds to cry out and scatter in flight.
Expressionless, Dan Heng raised his head to look ahead. Within the hazy mist, a man with navy blue long hair, clutching a shattered old sword, slowly opened his eyes, staring dead at him.
"You came..."
Blade could feel it: the Mara was pulsing, his soul and flesh alike were trembling and wailing.
That was it, this feeling!
Kafka, standing half a step behind Blade, did not help him suppress the Mara-struck state this time, but instead allowed Blade to release this emotion.
"It is time to pay the price!"
Blade laughed ferociously, dragging the Shard Sword that trailed diagonally on the ground as he walked toward the azure figure.
Dan Heng sighed in his heart, his expression wooden. "I have said it many times. My name is Dan Heng. I have nothing to do with your past."
The man in black covered his eyes and let out a manic laugh.
"Do you think that by changing to another face and changing your name, the sins of the past can be written off in one stroke?"
Blade's figure leaned forward, and a swift bloody sword light instantly swept before Dan Heng.
"I will make you feel the pain of death! Dan Heng!"
Not expecting Blade to attack directly, Dan Heng's body reacted instinctively, pulling out Cloud-Piercer.
Clang!
Sparks flew. He blocked the seemingly fatal sword strike, but it was a feint.
Blade turned sideways and kicked solidly into Dan Heng's lower abdomen, sending the azure figure flying backward.
"Cough, cough..." Dan Heng clutched his stomach, half-crouching on the ground.
"Accept your death... Hmm?"
Blade intended to press his advantage, but his footsteps suddenly halted.
A streak of icy radiance tore through the air, wrapped in a sharp whistling sound, and stabbed precisely into the path between Dan Heng and Blade.
"Wanted criminal! You still dare to commit murder and evil on the Xianzhou! With me here, you won't kill anyone today!"
Yanqing stood atop an ancient stone pillar, arms crossed, head held high.
"Tch!"
Being interrupted while dealing with past grudges made Blade extremely unhappy. The released Mara emotions caused a ruthless aura to surface in his eyes.
"Jing Yuan's little follower... Did your General not teach you to judge the situation?"
The Shard Sword glowed with a dark red luster, like a sinful sword just drawn from hell.
The blade swept diagonally from bottom to top, the residual bloody arc of its trajectory diffusing into Sword Qi in mid-air, slashing toward Yanqing.
Yanqing's expression changed. While riding his sword for defense, he saw that Blade had vanished. He turned his head and shouted to Dan Heng:
"Hey, watch out!"
"Oh my, it's really lively here!"
A girl's voice rang out abruptly, accompanied by a crescent-like extreme cold Sword Qi tearing through the air. It forced the charging Blade back, leaving a not-so-serious small wound on his chest.
The repelled Blade did not immediately launch another attack. Instead, he looked down at the rapidly healing wound on his chest.
Contaminated by the flesh of an Emanator, he could recover no matter what injury he sustained. Therefore, he had long grown accustomed to the pain brought by battle, and was too lazy to defend against or dodge minor wounds.
The point was not the injury, but this sword strike... it was so familiar!
This feeling, there was no mistake, no mistake...
He jerked his head up to look in the direction the voice came from, but Blade did not see the figure he anticipated. Standing in front of him was a completely unfamiliar girl in a white dress.
Blade frowned, revealing a look of confusion.
No?
It actually wasn't her?
Dan Heng, Yanqing, and Kafka all turned their heads to look at the newcomer. They hadn't expected someone else to appear here.
Kafka's brows furrowed slightly; the script seemed a bit off...
"Miss Sushang? Why are you here!?"
Yanqing voiced his astonishment.
Due to the Xuanyuan Heavy Sword, Yanqing and Sushang knew each other. As remuneration for admiring the sword, Yanqing had even guided Sushang on key points of her daily sword practice, so he understood Sushang's strength.
She counted as outstanding among the Cloud Knights, but facing a major Stellaron Hunter criminal, she wouldn't last a single round!
"Quickly, leave this place! It's very dangerous here!"
"It's fine, I won't be in trouble."
Moonscar revealed a friendly smile to Yanqing.
"Who are you!? That woman... what is your relationship with that woman!?"
Blade's voice was like the roar of a wild beast.
Such familiar swordsmanship; the white-dressed girl definitely had a connection to that person!
"Impudent! Which woman?"
Moonscar suddenly raised her volume.
"Jing..."
Blade gritted his teeth, his killing intent chilling.
"Oh, oh, Jingliu. We are in a master-disciple relationship."
Moonscar held the Ruoshui God behind her back, speaking with a smile.
Li Sushang and Jingliu were both Ice attribute. With Li Sushang's realm, imitating Jingliu's Sword Intent a little bit wasn't difficult.
"Jingliu! Master and disciple? How is that possible?"
Yanqing's expression changed wildly.
That sword strike from Jingliu, chilling to the bone and seeming to freeze a person forever, had left a deep impression on Yanqing!
After receiving that strike, he had immediately reported the matter of the mysterious big sister to the General, learning that her identity was actually his master's master, the Luofu's former Sword Champion!
How could she be Miss Sushang's master?
Then wouldn't Miss Sushang become his grand-aunt-master?
"Master and disciple... Master... Haha!"
Blade covered his head and laughed crazily.
He hadn't expected people to appear one after another to interrupt his grudge with Dan Heng, nor did he expect that woman's disciple to appear here!
"I wonder, when she taught you sword arts, did she sever your limbs with her sword? Did she pick apart and pierce your nerves inch by inch!?"
Having actively released his emotions earlier, Blade had now begun to fall into the Mara. His body transmitted countless phantom pains and negative emotions—that was the pain Jingliu left him with a hundred deaths when she taught him sword arts back then.
Unforgettable!
"Kafka," Blade shouted suddenly without turning his head.
Silent for two seconds, Kafka's eyes flowed with purple glazed light: "Mhm, Bladie. Spirit Whisper: release the restraints."
"Come, fight me!"
Blade, having activated his Mara-struck state, laughed loudly, seeming maniacal. He actually abandoned Dan Heng and turned to kill toward Moonscar.
"Let me see if your sword can grant me death like hers did, bringing me a moment of release!"
"Is this a Mara-struck flare-up?"
Li Sushang was startled by Blade's state.
She had felt a bit of it when fighting Jingliu earlier, but Jingliu had already been suppressed by Caelus at that time, so it wasn't obvious.
But Blade here was simply crazier than a madman.
Li Sushang held the Ruoshui God, neutralizing Blade's sword moves.
Blade's swordsmanship naturally could not compare to Jingliu's. In terms of pure sword skills, Li Sushang, who was half a step superior to Jingliu, found it not difficult to parry Blade's sword.
Metal clashed against metal; the clanging sounds were incessant.
"I only said Jingliu and I are in a master-disciple relationship; why would you think Jingliu is the master?"
Taking advantage of a gap in the clash between Li Sushang and Blade, Moonscar canceled auto-battle, jumping out to correct him with a serious face.
"I say, is there a possibility that I am the master, and Jingliu is the disciple?"
"?"
"??"
As the words fell, even Blade, who had fallen halfway into the Mara, stopped his offensive, unable to resist frowning.
Dan Heng's expression changed for the first time, showing astonishment.
That woman Jingliu's master?
Yanqing, on the other hand, fell into a daze after Sushang displayed sword skills that suppressed Blade.
What was going on?
How did Miss Sushang suddenly become so strong?
Was this still that novice swordfighter who couldn't even hold a sword steadily?
Sword... Wait, that isn't the Xuanyuan Heavy Sword; it's another divine weapon.
Yanqing's attention was attracted by the Ruoshui God.
"What nonsense are you spouting!" Blade's voice was crazy and cold.
Impossible!
Absolutely impossible!
The master who taught that woman swordsmanship had long since entered nirvana/died; how could they still be alive in this world!
From the white-dressed girl, Blade felt not a shred of the twilight aura of the elderly; she was full of youthful vitality. But here came the problem.
After exchanging blows for dozens of rounds, Blade could feel that the girl's swordsmanship was not beneath his own.
Blade wiped the Shard Sword across his wrist, allowing blood to stream out and wrap around the blade's body, then transformed it into a heaven-shocking bloody Sword Qi, slashing out violently.
Karmic Wind!
"Such heavy scent of blood and killing intent."
Li Sushang raised the Ruoshui God, about to slash out Sword Qi.
[Wait, let me do it. You coordinate with me.]
Moonscar switched control rights. She formed a sword with her slender fingers, tapping on the water-blue blade body wrapped in dragon shadows.
Rippling ice light rapidly elongated along the trajectory of her moving finger, deriving ice-trace patterns that crawled all over the Ruoshui God sword.
"This scenic beauty, though I seek it in vain..."
Chanting softly, Moonscar raised her sword and leaped into mid-air like a rising moon, slashing down toward the top of Blade's head with the momentum of falling stars!
"...I can, however, invite you all to share in it!"
More than a dozen erupting crescent-like cold ice Sword Qi bloomed like a lotus, severing the bloody Sword Qi.
"?"
Hearing this déjà vu line, even Blade in his Mara-struck state felt an indescribable strangeness.
"Blade... Imbibitor Lunae... Heh, truly a lot of old acquaintances."
Before Blade could cast aside that feeling of awkwardness, a cold voice rang out, instantly quieting the scene and causing the temperature to drop once again.
Light, cold footsteps sounded incredibly clear on this open platform. Yanqing, Blade, and Dan Heng all looked in the direction the voice came from.
"Big Sister... it really is you!"
Yanqing's expression changed, looking somewhat unsightly.
"You came too! Hahaha!"
Blade instinctively revealed a ferocious grin, but when he noticed Jingliu walking out from behind the white-dressed girl, the smile on his face froze for a moment.
No, it can't be?
Could the white-dressed girl really be this woman's master?
"..."
Dan Heng remained silent, but the look of amazement flashing in his eyes showed that his heart was not calm.
"Jingliu, Master didn't lie to you, right? Does this count as a surprise?"
Moonscar protected Jingliu behind her, speaking prettily.
"...Mhm."
Jingliu nodded slightly. The sound emitted from her throat was extremely faint, but falling on the ears of Dan Heng, Blade, and Yanqing, it was like a thunderclap, booming and shocking, leaving their brains buzzing.
Just as all three were briefly stupefied by this shocking news, Moonscar waved a greeting to Dan Heng.
"Yo~ Brother Dan Heng, we meet again~!"
"Miss Sushang, who exactly are you?"
Dan Heng never expected to meet the Cloud Knight girl he had met once at Cloudford again at this time.
Who exactly was the other party?
There was no such person in Dan Feng's memories?
"We'll talk about that later."
Moonscar smiled with bright efficiency, then beckoned to Yanqing, introducing everyone in turn like a Cloud Knight grunt reporting to a superior.
"Yanqing, that young man beside you is the sinner who committed the Ten Unpardonable Sins, betrayed the Xianzhou, incited great chaos, and was banished for eternity: the Vidyadhara High Elder, Imbibitor Lunae.
"Big Sister Jingliu is likewise a heavy criminal who fell into the Mara and fled to the outer realms.
"And there's the Stellaron Hunter, Blade.
"I'll help you hold the line; you arrest them all together and hand them over to the General for judgment!"
Yanqing: "???"
Dan Heng: "..."
Jingliu: "..."
Blade: "?"
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