Chapter 124: Battle of Life and Death
Madam Mei’s sudden interruption scared Captain Zhao into taking a step forward, almost dropping the object in his hand.
“The censer!” Rong Xie shouted.
Captain Zhao hurriedly held the censer tight. The incense inside was still burning. As long as Captain Zhao injected spiritual energy into it, the censer would continuously produce scented mist, minimizing the influence of the external illusion array.
At this point, Captain Zhao also understood that the root of the illusion array lay in the albizia flowers. Actually, they knew it when they first came in, but interrupted by chaotic relationships involving cauldron modification, the Ruthless Dao foundation, and old lovers, they had forgotten about it.
Rong Xie breathed a sigh of relief. “Don’t worry. As long as the censer works normally, the albizia flowers won’t affect us. Let the team members stand within the range of the scented mist.”
Captain Zhao nodded and walked vigilantly holding the censer towards the side away from Madam Mei, summoning the team members to stand closer.
Rong Xie looked at Madam Mei and suddenly yanked the chain. Madam Mei involuntarily hit the invisible barrier set by Lu Yingqi, cried “Ouch,” and blood flowed from his mouth again.
“You don’t need to trick us. With this chain locking you, you can’t use magical power. The albizia flowers have no magical power to activate them and cannot attack us. They can only produce some illusions indiscriminately.” Rong Xie said.
Madam Mei spat out a mouthful of bloody foam and sneered. “Little Brother Rong is truly knowledgeable; nothing can be hidden from you. However, how do you know I am the only one here who can activate the albizia flower’s illusion technique?”
Rong Xie’s heart tightened. His gaze swept over the people behind Madam Mei, then lowered, saying calmly, “Oh? There is actually a second person here who can activate the albizia flower’s illusion technique? I thought only you, Madam Mei, knew about the Hehuan Sect’s business of modifying cauldrons here?”
“How is that possible,” Madam Mei laughed. “Do you really think the Lu family members are all that innocent, knowing nothing, letting me do whatever I want alone? That old thing Lu Yuanzong is slippery. Little fellow, I advise you to take your little friend and run quickly.”
“Save these words for when you confess your crimes at the Mirror Palace.” Rong Xie wrapped the silver chain around his hand a few more times unhurriedly.
Seeing he was unmoved, Madam Mei rolled his eyes, changed his tone, and said, “You don’t really think Shen Bingsi can defeat our Young Master Qi, do you?”
Rong Xie didn’t answer.
Madam Mei’s spirit lifted, feeling as if he had found a chance to pry open the chain. “Although both are Nascent Souls, Young Master Qi is at the late Nascent Soul stage. what stage is Shen Bingsi? Mid Nascent Soul… Early Nascent Soul?”
As Madam Mei spoke, he looked inquiringly at Rong Xie. Rong Xie remained expressionless. Madam Mei continued, “This old body remembers Shen Bingsi has only been an Adjudicator for a few years. Truly a natural talent, so young, a Nascent Soul sword cultivator, and one of the three major Adjudicators of the Mirror Palace.”
“…”
“What a pity, what a pity. In terms of future, Sword Saint Shen should have a broader and brighter future than our Young Master Qi. It’s a pity his mind is unclear, falling in such a remote corner for such a small case of our Lu family.”
Madam Mei shook his head, looking very regretful.
“Have you said enough?” Rong Xie took out a stack of talisman papers from his pouch. “I have enough Silence Mantras here to silence you until next year. Do you want to try?”
“Hehe, if you really wanted to shut me up, you would have used the talismans directly. Little fellow, this old body gives you a piece of good advice. Many things in the world cannot be taken too seriously. The more serious you are, the faster you die. For example, my case. You could just release me. After Young Master Qi finishes interrogating me, you can come arrest me again. This way, you don’t have to clash head-on with Young Master Qi, and you can smoothly arrest me. Isn’t this great?”
Madam Mei smiled.
“What a pity, what a pity. You insist on clashing head-on. Sword Saint Shen’s bright future is about to be ruined today. Do you know that the higher the realm, the greater the difference in strength between different stages? In the Nascent Soul realm, the gap between early, middle, and late stages is even bigger than the gap between Foundation Establishment, Golden Core, and Nascent Soul! For an early Nascent Soul cultivator to crush a Foundation Establishment cultivator is easier than crushing an ant. A late Nascent Soul cultivator against an early Nascent Soul is just like that.”
If Shen Bingsi had really gone to fight Lu Yingqi to the death, Rong Xie would have been the first to stop him. But Shen Bingsi’s voice transmission before leaving let him know that Shen Bingsi was not brave but foolish. He did this only to break through Lu Yingqi’s blockade and send the message back to the Mirror Palace.
As long as Shen Bingsi successfully sent the message, he would naturally stop and return here. What Rong Xie needed to do was to hold the chain for him while he rushed forward, watching over Madam Mei.
Rong Xie said lightly, “So what. Any cultivator knows what you said. Can you say something fresh?”
“…” Madam Mei choked. He hadn’t expected that after talking for so long, Rong Xie was still not panicked at all. Madam Mei, who had always been good at manipulating people’s hearts, actually hit a wall repeatedly in front of a nobody. He was angry, pressing hard against the invisible air wall, staring hatefully at Rong Xie. “Are you really not worried about Shen Bingsi at all? Your relationship with him should be like Little Zhi and Young Master Qi, right? Even if you aren’t that close, you grew up together. Do you not care about his future or even his life at all? As long as you release me, let go of this chain, I guarantee Young Master Qi will end the battle immediately. Even if Young Master Qi doesn’t end it, I will find a way to make him end it…”
Rong Xie looked at the sky. The collisions between gold and white light became more frequent, and the rumbling explosions were incessant.
“Of course I worry,” Rong Xie said. “But I… believe in him.”
No matter what difficulties he encountered, Shen Bingsi would find a way to overcome them.
Even if temporarily in adversity, he was always thinking of ways to break out.
Even facing the Heavenly Demon that the entire cultivation world couldn’t resist, even facing a desperate choice that would shatter anyone’s Dao Heart, Shen Bingsi had never retreated.
“I believe in him.” Rong Xie’s tone was firm.
Madam Mei stared at him. After a long while, he shook his head. “The most foolish thing in the world is to believe in others. However, foolish people are always firm. It seems this old body can’t change your mind…”
Suddenly, gasps sounded around. The Treasure Hunting Team and Lu family members, who had been in a standoff, stopped and looked at the sky together.
Two huge balls of light appeared on either side of the dark clouds, one gold and one white. The light balls moved slowly away from each other, withdrawing from both sides of the dark clouds.
The luminous bodies originally wrapped in dark clouds revealed distinct shapes—one gold and one white giant sword!
The trivial skirmish had ended. Now it was time to compete in strength. The two Nascent Soul sword cultivators each gathered their lifelong cultivation power, intending to clash head-on with their Life-Bound Swords at this moment to decide the winner.
In such a duel, whoever won, both sides would suffer heavy damage. Unless it was a life-and-death struggle, Nascent Soul cultivators wouldn’t risk making such a stance.
Rong Xie’s heart lifted. In an instant, many thoughts flashed through his mind.
He thought of Shen Bingsi as someone who pursued power regardless of everything, thought of his obsession with swordsmanship, wanting to compete with every rumored powerful sword cultivator, thought of the eager expression he showed every time he met Lu Yingqi…
Rong Xie suddenly wavered for a moment. What if Shen Bingsi got carried away and decided to settle the score with Lu Yingqi first? What if he felt this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, put everything else aside, and forgot about sending the message?
Rong Xie’s scalp tingled, and his palms sweated. Various terrible consequences tore at his heart…
Boom—
The two giant swords collided in the air. A huge shockwave spread instantly. The tall cloud mountain tore apart from the middle, turning into fragments.
Heaven and earth shook simultaneously. People on the ground could hardly stand. Amidst the chaos, sounds of falling and screaming were incessant.
Rong Xie felt like a small boat floating on broken wave crests. He was dizzy, the scenery before him blurred into shadows, and the people around him rose and fell, sometimes far and sometimes near. The only thing he could realize was that the silver chain was still grasped in his hand.
…
After an unknown amount of time, the shaking finally stopped.
Rong Xie still maintained a defensive posture, half-squatting beside the invisible barrier trapping Madam Mei. He felt a stinging pain in his arm, as if the skin had been scratched by something, but fortunately, the silver chain was still tightly grasped in his hand.
He lowered his arm and looked up to the side. Madam Mei was still tied firmly. Because he couldn’t use magical power, he had no defense and was directly knocked unconscious by the spiritual energy shockwave, slumped in the invisible barrier.
Rong Xie breathed a slight sigh of relief. Soon, his heart lifted again.
The duel… is it over?
It should be over. The dark clouds pressing overhead just now scattered. Rong Xie could feel the afterglow of the setting sun falling from above his head through the broken dark clouds. His eyelids were pressed by the golden-red light.
But he dared not look up, dared not confirm the result of the duel. What if Shen Bingsi lost, what if…
While Rong Xie was letting his imagination run wild, a pair of black boots walked into his field of vision.
Rong Xie recognized these boots. There was a small “Mirror” character mark on the inside of the boots, the standard uniform of the Mirror Palace Adjudicators.
He looked up abruptly and saw a strange face.
The man looked to be in his forties, with a short mustache. His image was somewhat unkempt, but he had an unrestrained and open-minded temperament. When looking at Rong Xie, his eyes showed surprise.
“Little brother, why are you squatting here? Where is Shen Bingsi?” the man asked.
“You… you are from the Mirror Palace…”
Rong Xie couldn’t describe the feeling in his heart. Shen Bingsi’s message was successfully sent out. The contact from the Mirror Palace had arrived. During this process, he never let go, giving Madam Mei no chance to escape. Now, this heinous Madam Mei was finally arrested, and everything went smoothly as planned.
Except that Shen Bingsi didn’t come back in a hurry like usual.
“Yes, my surname is Jiang. They all call me Big Brother Jiang.” Big Brother Jiang smiled and waved his hand casually. The barrier set by Lu Yingqi shattered at the sound. “You can call me that too. —Is this the person Shen Bingsi wanted to arrest?”
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