Chapter 197
Be it when Fang Xing had fallen from the sky, when the ghost thralls had appeared, or when Chu Zhaoyang was killed with a single strike, Ye Gu’yin showed no intention of intervening. She kept a composed expression and deliberately stayed out of it, even to the point she took a few steps back when Chu Zhaoyang’s head flew in her direction so her dress wouldn’t be tainted with blood. It was only now that she slowly opened her mouth to ask Ying Qiaoqiao who that was.
"s.h.i.+jie Ye, he… he is Fang Xing…." Ying Qiaoqiao was crying so hard she could barely finish her sentence. Her body s.h.i.+vered and she softly fell to the ground.
"He’s Fang Xing?" Ye Gu’yin was slightly startled by this, and her eyebrows began to crease with seriousness. With a point of her finger, her silver spindle took off into the air. Not even she had thought this slippery little brat who dared to kill even while surrounded would turn out to be someone she wanted to kill!
‘Way too close, thank G.o.d I still had the Diamond Talisman to block that attack for me, or else I’d have lost at least half of my life there….’ Fang Xing had escaped with a laugh, but he still felt a bit shaken up as he looked down at the tattered and blank talisman paper. He’d stuck this Diamond Talisman to himself to withstand a powerful blow before searching the Qingqiu Tomb, but it had been completely outside his expectations he wouldn’t use it in the immortal’s hall. It hadn’t come into play until after he’d left the hall, where it had n.o.bly sacrificed itself to take the Foundation Stage strike from Elder Moye.
"Goldy, hurry and fly! Once we get away, we’ll find somewhere to study these two treasures!" Fang Xing proudly laughed before continuing with some regret, "What a pity; there’s probably some more good stuff still inside!"
The golden crow was struck speechless by this. "You should be satisfied with this! It’s already good enough that we were able to escape that place!" Even now, he could still feel a lingering sense of fear. The time within the Qingqiu Tomb had been a matter of life and death, and they’d nearly been killed. It was also for this exact reason the golden crow felt a sense of admiration towards Fang Xing.
The crow himself had believed his guts were quite large. After leaving his clan, he traveled from the south to the north and had experienced plenty of winds and waves while leaving countless problems in his wake. After getting to know this little b.a.s.t.a.r.d, however, he realized just how well-behaved he’d been before; if his actions before meeting Fang Xing were enough to paint him as a troublemaker, then wouldn’t Fang Xing’s actions paint the boy as someone who completely deserved to be struck by lightning?
In the golden crow’s eyes, the time spent in the Qingqiu Tomb had been particularly impressive! He wouldn’t admit to it, of course, so instead he just put all of his energy into flying as fast as possible. The Myriad Beasts Sect still had two Foundation Stage cultivators, after all; it was best for them to escape first.
In truth, with the golden crow’s current flying speed, only late Foundation Stage cultivators would be able to catch up to him. The person with the highest cultivation level within the Myriad Beasts Sect was the mid Foundation Stage sect master, Ying s.h.i.+hou, who had also just used up all of his Qi and was temporarily unable to give chase at all. Elder Moye had only just broken through into the Foundation Stage not so long ago, so chasing after the golden crow would be even more impossible. Neither Fang Xing nor the crow was worried about these two.
After flying madly for a while, the golden crow saw no one had caught up to them and finally slowed down. He hadn’t gotten too far away from the Qingqiu Tomb just yet, but it seemed as though the danger had already pa.s.sed. Furthermore, although he still had the Nine-Turn Qi Replenishment Pellet activated inside his stomach, he’d managed to use up quite a lot of Qi and was feeling some fatigue.
Fang Xing didn’t care what the crow decided to do; he simply sat down cross-legged on the crow’s back and took out the fox mask for study. The mask’s appearance wasn’t any different from a normal one, with a shape like that of a fox giving a mysterious smile. It was a pale white color, and tapping it caused a clanging sound that belonged to neither metal nor wood. He couldn’t figure out its purpose no matter which way he looked at it, and nothing happened when he wore it over his face, either.
"After so much effort, I didn’t grab something
After further study, Fang Xing tried to break the mask only to discover it was oddly st.u.r.dy and didn’t even bend despite him using his full strength. With a quick thought, he pulled out a few sharp Flying Swords and forcibly slashed at the mask, but he didn’t see so much as a scratch when he picked it back up for another look. Although the mask seemed rather ordinary otherwise, it was at the very least incredibly difficult to break.
Fang Xing still wasn’t able to figure out what the item was good for, so he put it aside to study it in detail some other time. Instead, Fang Xing took out the jade scroll that he’d originally found beneath the mask.
"What’s this?"
Within the immortal’s hall, the pressure and time constraints had prevented him from taking anything other than the fox mask and this jade scroll. Considering these two items had been sitting atop the throne, and the stone tortoise was going to allow him to use anything within the immortal’s hall aside from these two items and the Blood Lotus, it only stood to reason that these items should be rather valuable.
The top of the jade scroll was blank. After some study, Fang Xing instilled it with some Qi, and a few faint strokes began to appear along its cover. The special language it used wasn’t from Jambu, nor was it the ancient beast language that had been carved above the Qingqiu Tomb’s entrance.
After viewing it with the Book of Revelation, Fang Xing discovered with great surprise that it was the language of the immortals. He quickly realized this jade scroll’s importance was perhaps even greater than the mask’s, and he immediately began to carefully read on until he was able to decipher the jade scroll’s name: the Scripture of the Revered Sense.
"That sounds a little familiar. Could it be related to the Scripture of the Revered Spirit?" As Fang Xing stared blankly at the scroll, he recalled the Scripture of the Revered Spirit he’d obtained during a dream. Judging by the names alone, the two did seem to have some sort of resemblance, and he began to hurriedly read on with sudden excitement.
Before Fang Xing was able to read more than a few lines, however, he heard the golden crow anxiously say, "Somebody’s chasing us?"
Surprised, Fang Xing tilted his head towards the direction of the Qingqiu Tomb, where he saw an abrupt lightning-like silver s.h.i.+ne coming towards them at an extremely fast speed. It wasn’t that much slower than the golden crow’s peak speed, and it was now already within a thousand feet from them. By using Mystic Eye, he could also see that within the silver light was an emotionless woman wearing a light purple dress, with a silver spindle beneath her feet and a giant Guqin on her back.
"It’s that big long legs?" Fang Xing was surprised to see her chasing after him. He still remembered when he’d seen this woman outside Sea Beast City, the so-called Chufung’s number one genius: Ye Gu’yin.
When Fang Xing looked past her, he didn’t see any Foundation Stage cultivators following behind, leaving Fang Xing confused. If the Myriad Beasts Sect hadn’t come chasing after him, why was this Melodic Ice Palace person doing so?
He wasn’t scared of this woman either, so he had the golden crow reduce his speed to allow her to catch up. Once Ye Gu’yin reached around three hundred feet away, Fang Xing prepared his Qi and raised his voice to yell, "You big long legs, what are you doing chasing after your little grandpa?"
Ye Gu’yin had only managed to catch up by using the supreme-quality flying spirit tool her esteemed s.h.i.+fu had given to her, leaving her incredibly surprised by the crow’s incredible speed. She drew closer, but before she’d even managed to speak, Fang Xing’s loud call immediately caused her face to fall.
She was the chosen one of the Melodic Ice Palace and the last pupil of the most powerful person in Chufung. Whenever people saw her, they would all greet her as "fairy"; since when had she ever been called something like "big long legs", let alone by a brat referring to himself in front of her as "grandpa"? Ye Gu’yin was thoroughly unamused and didn’t even bother covering it up; with a wave of her hand, a sword that s.h.i.+ned with brilliant colors and vibrant light drew itself from her Guqin before settling in her grasp.
"Slap yourself three times in penance for speaking such words to me. Then, I order you to bind your own cultivation and come with me!" She stood tall with the sword held horizontally in front of her. She displayed a calm expression towards Fang Xing, yet despite her gaze settled in his direction, there seemed to be no point of focus—it was as though she was looking at the empty sky behind him.
This was a woman so proud most people weren’t even allowed to be within her gaze!
Even Fang Xing was shocked to hear her words. He considered himself to be a bit crazy, but someone as crazy as her was truly a rare sight….
"Are you talking to me?" Fang Xing asked in a bewildered tone while pointing to his nose.
Ye Gu’yin answered without expression. "Aside from you and me, is there anybody else here?"
Fang Xing let out a long sigh. "Why should I come with you?"
"There’s no problem telling you the reason," Ye Gu’yin calmly replied. "I am acquainted with the Xiao family of your Qing-Yun Sect. I heard you killed Xiao Jianming, and Xiao Shanhe was unable to do anything about you, so I wanted to use this chance to capture you and send you back to the Qing-Yun Sect. With this, all ties between me and the Xiao family will be gone. That is the reason. Now, you are free to slap yourself. If you are unconvinced, feel free to begin your attack!"
‘So this woman knows that Xiao uncle-nephew pair…’ Fang Xing realized before looking behind her in confusion. It still seemed as though n.o.body had followed her, so he eventually asked, "Big long legs, did you set up an ambush so you could seduce me?"
Ye Gu’yin’s face became colder. "I came alone!"
Fang Xing looked at her with even more surprise. "Then why did you think I’d bind my cultivation and leave with you?"
Ye Gu’yin’s gaze chilled. "Because if I use this sword of mine, I cannot promise I won’t accidentally kill you!" she coldly declared.
"Haha…." When Fang Xing became certain this woman was being serious, he let out a loud laugh. "Harlots can be this crazy?"
"Impudent!" Angered by Fang Xing’s laughter, Ye Gu’yin immediately brandished the longsword in her hand and sent a sharp sword light towards the boy. She’d never been someone who liked to speak much; the only reason she’d given Fang Xing the chance to bind his own cultivation and leave with her to the Qing-Yun Sect to apologize was because she was curious why Fang Xing would fall from the Qingqiu Tomb.
She’d given him a chance purely to sate her curiosity, yet this wild brat seemed to not pay her any mind whatsoever, causing her to grow more and more furious. Without another word, she’d brandished her sword and attacked.
The awe-inspiring sword light was bitingly cold, and it grew larger and larger as it traveled. By the time it reached Fang Xing, it already stretched ten feet long and directly enveloped Fang Xing and the crow in its light.
Fang Xing was someone with a good head on his shoulders; even though he’d been speaking lightly, he only needed a glance to know how extraordinary this sword light was. With a loud growl and a tightening of his brows, the Hundred and Eight Thousand Swords immediately formed behind his back alongside two giant golden wings.
Dozens of illusory swords composed of the golden s.h.i.+ne moved to meet Ye Gu’yin’s sword light, while Fang Xing himself swiftly dashed forward with his giant saber in hand to perform a strike of his own. "What a harlot. You really think just because your cultivation level is higher than mine, you’re guaranteed to swallow me up?"