Chapter 37 : Coming Naked

Chen Yuyang: “???”

“Why did Junior Sister… just die?”

The young man stared at Tai Lingxuan in utter confusion, not understanding why his master was acting as if Lingxi had already passed away.

“I asked that girl from the Yan family over and over, and she only saw you—she never saw Lingxi… So I thought, maybe, back then, Lingxi was already…” Tai Lingxuan’s voice faded as she spoke.

And the reason for her gloomy mood—this played a considerable part.

Now that Yuyang had returned, she was already overjoyed.

But it turned out, Lingxi was still alive!

“I have to go see for myself!”

Tai Lingxuan declared, turning sharply and rushing out of Chen Yuyang’s room.

Chen Yuyang looked at his master’s hastily departing figure, shook his head with a wry smile, and sighed:

“Master, you could at least close the door when you go out.”

“Oh well… Master is just a person of temperament.”

Shaking his head, Chen Yuyang grabbed the edge of the bathing barrel to stand up.

Yet at that moment, he suddenly felt a pull.

A force that traversed space.

At the same time, a distant sensation made his pupils dilate instantly, cold sweat beading and dripping from his forehead.

“No way… Not now, right…?”

…

Qianghuang Secret Realm.

As a small world discovered in ancient times, long connected stably with the cultivation world, without any special rules, and with spiritual energy several times richer than the cultivation world, the Qianghuang Secret Realm was favored by many cultivators.

But precisely because there was no threshold, the secret realm was full of all sorts—good and bad mixed together.

Unlike the Ziyang Secret Realm, where only disciples of the major sects could enter—there were conflicts, but fatalities were rare.

Qianghuang Secret Realm, however, was an ancient battlefield.

Here, countless powerful cultivators had fallen, including those at the Grand Ascension stage, and even Half-step True Immortals.

Even a ninth-grade immortal artifact had once appeared here.

It could be said that the opportunities in Qianghuang Secret Realm were boundless.

Yet, finding such fortune was always relatively easy—how to hold onto it was the true problem.

Just as at this very moment.

A slender figure swept swiftly across the black wasteland.

The young woman was dressed in pure white, an ice-blue ribbon like flowing water wrapped around her, a red string tied around her right wrist, and a slender cyan sword gripped firmly in her hand.

Gu Qiushui, now, had fallen into dire straits.

And all of this stemmed from a corpse she found in a mountain valley six days prior.

The corpse of a Grand Ascension stage cultivator, and a will left behind after his fall.

Of course, the corpse itself was not of much value, and the will only expressed the regrets of the man before his death.

The truly important things were the ancient scroll and the slender sword placed to the side.

That ancient scroll was a sword art: the “Canglan Sword Art.”

According to the will, this was the Grand Ascension cultivator’s life’s work, what he most wished to pass down in his final days.

As for the sword, it was the weapon the cultivator had wielded in life, named Canglan Sword.

Now, it was held by Gu Qiushui as she fought for her life.

The will stated that whoever discovered the sword art was destined to inherit it.

Naturally, Gu Qiushui was overjoyed.

Both the sword art and sword matched her attributes perfectly.

But just as she happily accepted the sword and sword art, solemnly buried the Grand Ascension cultivator and bowed in the manner of a disciple, someone in the shadows suddenly ambushed her.

Gu Qiushui had no idea when the assailants had arrived—she only knew they were aware she now possessed the sword art and the treasured sword.

The sudden attack left Gu Qiushui completely unprepared, and she was gravely wounded.

After that, she was besieged by a total of twelve people.

All twelve were at the late-stage Golden Core Realm, and all were quite powerful.

Moreover, they cooperated flawlessly, forming a killing array that inflicted even greater harm.

With the Cold River Sash bestowed by her master, Gu Qiushui forcibly resisted the onslaught and broke through the encirclement, fleeing desperately.

Now, she had been running for five days and four nights.

The twelve stalked her like maggots clinging to bones, refusing to give up.

At present, Gu Qiushui felt her condition worsening.

Her pursuers pressed relentlessly, giving her no time to tend her wounds or restore her strength.

She had to fight.

If she kept fleeing, as her injuries worsened, she would only end up at their mercy.

She might as well fight back now while she still had a sliver of strength—take down as many as she could!

Gritting her teeth, the girl steeled her heart.

Suddenly, she whirled and struck with her sword!

A blue-cyan sword light swept out fiercely.

Gu Qiushui halted her flight, spun like an arrow, and pursued the sword light, striking at the nearest of her pursuers.

She circulated the Harmony Art, turning pure yin energy into a stream of water flowing along the surface of the Cold River Sash.

In an instant, the sash expanded countless times, overlapping itself and splitting the space, separating Gu Qiushui’s target from his companions.

The man’s face changed.

Not daring to take Gu Qiushui’s attack head-on, he shielded himself with spiritual energy and summoned a jade ruler spiritual weapon for protection.

However, the weapon in Gu Qiushui’s hand was a treasure left by a Grand Ascension cultivator.

Though Gu Qiushui didn’t know its grade nor had she refined it, simply swinging it unleashed a terrifying power.

Seeing he couldn’t resist, the man tried to dodge.

But before he could move, he realized that, unbeknownst to him, the air was now filled with countless fine silver threads, dense as spider silk, sewing his body into that space.

Forcing his way out would only damage his own meridians.

[Cold Water Burying Flowers Art—Thousand Facets of Charm!]

Before the man could think of a way out, Gu Qiushui’s sword thrust forward.

It was a simple strike, yet imbued with the pure yin force drawn from the Harmony Art.

The protective jade ruler shuddered and was sent flying, and the shielding spiritual power was pierced in an instant.

Along with it, the man’s chest was skewered through.

Blood gushed forth, yet not a drop stained the girl’s robes, for in the next instant, Gu Qiushui had withdrawn her sash and leapt toward her next foe.

The Cold River Sash sealed off escape, and she slew another with ruthless efficiency.

But the unrestrained release of spiritual power meant that the wounds Gu Qiushui had been suppressing quickly worsened with her all-out, reckless attacks.

But now, with her resolve set, Gu Qiushui could no longer care.

Either she killed them all—or she would die from her injuries!

Come on!

Kill, kill, kill!

A savage light flickered in the girl’s eyes.

With the second enemy slain, the remaining ten snapped to attention, gathering quickly to avoid being picked off one by one.

The ten drew their weapons and swiftly formed a battle formation.

Spiritual power erupted.

Sword shadows, spear strikes, flames, thunder, howling winds.

All manner of attacks came in waves, clashing violently with Gu Qiushui.

At the same time, her strength drained further and her wounds deepened.

Blood seeped from torn wounds, soaking her snow-white clothes, running down her sword arm to drip from the blade’s tip.

Her breathing grew rough.

After cutting down two more, Gu Qiushui found her vision blurring, her consciousness growing hazy.

Was she going to die here?

Damn it, to be killed by such despicable ambushers…

Master, forgive your useless disciple… I’ve brought shame upon you.

As she lamented, another figure floated up in her heart.

Black hair, black eyes, youthful yet unyielding.

Yuyang…

What a pity…

If only she’d had the nerve—if she’d known she would die, she would have snuck a taste, even behind Master’s back…

Her knees buckled, and the girl dropped to one knee, coughing up a mouthful of blood.

Her sword stabbed into the earth, propping her up and keeping her from collapsing.

Her vision was now a field of crimson.

“She can’t hold on much longer!”

“Don’t rush in. If she self-destructs, it’ll be bad.”

“Just keep her like this—she won’t last long.”

The remaining eight whispered among themselves, warily keeping their distance, waiting for the girl’s life to reach its end.

This left Gu Qiushui, who’d hoped to drag a couple down with her, utterly powerless.

The blood flowed, and death became ever clearer, ever more real…

Looking up, Gu Qiushui seemed to see that familiar silhouette once more.

But upon seeing it, she couldn’t help but let out a laugh.

Was it because she was dying?

At this moment, she actually saw Junior Brother Yuyang’s figure.

The funniest part was, Junior Brother Yuyang was naked…

Was she really that greedy for her junior brother?

To hallucinate such an absurd thing before dying.

Smiling, Gu Qiushui fell, eyes closing heavily.

And as they closed for the last time, she saw the figure turn to look at her.

But as he turned, his face was hidden behind a full iron mask, completely concealing his features, even his aura.

Huh?

Could it not be her junior brother, just someone who resembled him?

That final thought flickered through her mind, and the girl lost consciousness completely.

Chen Yuyang dropped to one knee at her side, checked her condition, then swiftly drew out a dark-red pill and placed it in the girl’s mouth.

An eighth-grade Soul Gathering Vitality Pill.

A pill with the genuine power to revive flesh and bones from the dead.

Its value was self-evident; its grade said it all.

After feeding her the pill, Chen Yuyang turned his head to the eight figures arrayed in the sky.

Beneath the mask, his face was unseen, and no one could tell his expression.

But a wordless rage stirred his long hair and clenched his fists tight.

The reason for his anger was simple.

The wounds Gu Qiushui had suffered were truly fatal.

It was only because he had such a high-grade pill that he did not need to worry.

“Who is this kid?”

“When did he get here?”

“What did he just feed that woman?”

The eight whispered, watching this sudden, masked, and naked youth with utmost vigilance.

As cutthroat cultivators who made a living targeting others, they knew the importance of caution and staying away from the weird and dangerous.

And this boy, he was certainly strange.

But though they hesitated, Chen Yuyang acted without a shred of hesitation!

A deadly weapon appeared.

The sword flashed!

Death, for those eight, was a matter of an instant.