“Senior Cangjie Cave Spirit?”
Bai Yao turned in astonishment, looking at the grey sparrow perched on her shoulder.
A rare solemnity flickered in its small bird eyes, but it didn’t directly answer her question.
Instead, it turned to the raven and said: “Hey, you’ve broken the rules.”
The raven let out a hoarse laugh, looking unconcerned as it said:
“Liu Linglin is a true disciple of the Hehuan Sect, and she’s comprehended the true intent of the Yin-Yang Harmony Art. That makes her half an outer disciple of the Zong Heng Sect. Since we share the same origin, it’s only natural for me to show favoritism. You should know that. However, given that this little girl you’re backing has also obtained the true intent of the Opening and Closing Qi Control Art, she counts as half an outer disciple of Zong Heng as well. I’ll pretend I didn’t hear about the secrets you revealed to her. But since we’re both cave spirits, we naturally can no longer interfere in the grudges between these two.”
The sparrow chattered indignantly with a few chirps, its wings trembling with anger.
In the end, it could only say to Bai Yao: “That’s how it is. I can no longer heal your injuries in this battle.
You two will have to settle your grudge yourselves.”
Hearing this, Bai Yao let out a light breath of turbid air, her expression returning to indifference: “Once the battle is over, you must answer several of my questions.”
The sparrow hesitated for a moment, then tapped its beak lightly: “Fine.”
The two cave spirits each spread their wings and flew away from the cliff-top platform, leaving only two grey afterimages vanishing into the mist.
Bai Yao returned the black sword to her storage pouch.
The blade was still trembling slightly, like a restless beast forcibly shoved back into its cage.
Seeing that Bai Yao didn’t seem to intend to use that black sword, Liu Linglin’s somewhat tense heartstrings relaxed a little.
In truth, she was also wary of that sword, but clearly Bai Yao couldn’t control it—she might even be devoured by its backlash.
Bai Yao drew the refined iron short sword from her waist, its edge gleaming cold under the grey sky, and suddenly spoke:
“Let me ask you a question. Did you really get pregnant with that coward Xiao Yi’s child?”
Liu Linglin was momentarily stunned, then a cruel, seductive smile quickly spread across her face.
Like a gentle mother, she lightly caressed her lower abdomen with her left hand, yet her eyes shimmered with nothing but mockery:
“This? It’s merely the small price I had to pay to condense true Righteous Qi using the Young Prince’s true qi.”
Bai Yao’s gaze sharpened, and a judgment had already formed in her mind.
The person before her was one of the sources of her inner demon, born after her heart lake was wounded by Gao Luan’s black sword.
Right now, her inner demon was at its weakest.
As long as she killed Liu Linglin, one of her inner demons would surely be resolved.
But for Liu Linglin, she had obtained everything of Xiao Yi’s, yet lost only his heart.
His heart belonged to this youthful, cold-looking girl.
So Bai Yao—she had to be killed.
Otherwise, the inner demon would never be eliminated, and she could never seek the Dao.
A sudden mountain wind rose, and two red mulberry leaves drifted from the branches, spinning slowly as they fell.
Bai Yao and Liu Linglin moved at the same time.
The blade swept past, and the two red leaves were cut into four pieces midair, splattering like four drops of blood.
The next instant, both figures vanished, leaving only kicked-up dust in their wake.
But three horrifyingly fast sword lights shot toward Bai Yao’s face first, the shrill scream of blades tearing through air piercing to the bone.
Bai Yao’s entire aura tightened, her pupils contracting sharply.
She hadn’t expected that the Righteous Qi Liu Linglin carried—sharing the same origin as her own—would be so formidable, and that her sword speed would be three parts faster than Bai Yao’s.
But though her sword was slower, Bai Yao remained calm and composed, because the brilliance of the Opening and Closing Qi Control Art lay precisely in its balance of offense and defense.
Bai Yao quickly changed her stance, holding her sword horizontally to block in front of her, while her other hand formed a sword finger, swiftly drawing the cloud qi atop the cliff to form a blade.
The grey mist condensed into substance at her fingertips, transforming into several flowing-cloud sword stances that instantly blocked Liu Linglin’s three strikes.
The crisp clang of metal colliding exploded across the cliff top, rattling eardrums.
“A person from the Hehuan Sect uses a sword too?” As Bai Yao spoke, her sword finger abruptly shifted, the flowing clouds swiftly transforming into fierce Sword Qi that counterattacked Liu Linglin.
“Bai Yao, you already know the Hehuan Sect’s lineage in the Xuan Kingdom traces back to the ancient Zong Heng Sect, so why ask such a redundant question? The Yin-Yang Harmony Art is a method of cultivating heaven and earth together. You can use this sword technique—why can’t I?”
Liu Linglin’s tone carried the same calm seductiveness.
She actually formed a sword finger in exactly the same manner as Bai Yao, drawing the formless cloud qi into a blade, dissolving Bai Yao’s Sword Qi three feet before her.
Bai Yao was startled—it was a technique identical to her own down to the smallest detail.
But Liu Linglin didn’t continue pursuing with Sword Qi from her sword finger.
Instead, she raised her sword and attacked Bai Yao directly.
The blade aimed straight for her throat, the strikes vicious and treacherous.
“Not attacking me with Sword Qi?” Doubt filled Bai Yao’s mind.
At this moment, pursuing with Sword Qi would undoubtedly be the perfect chance to suppress her.
Yet Liu Linglin had chosen close-quarters combat instead.
She suddenly realized—one of the Ben Jing Qi Shu techniques Liu Linglin cultivated, even if similar to her Opening and Closing Qi Control Art, must have a fundamental difference.
Bai Yao chose not to contest sword techniques directly with Liu Linglin.
She had only comprehended the Sword Intent of Black Stone Cliff for a little over a month.
In close combat, she would certainly gain no advantage against Liu Linglin, who had trained for years.
So Bai Yao slapped her storage pouch, and another refined iron short sword flew out.
She controlled it with Sword Qi condensed into threads, striking at Liu Linglin’s flank from the side, intending to trade defense for offense.
Liu Linglin frowned and was forced to first deflect the incoming sword from her side.
Bai Yao seized this opportunity, touching her toes to the ground and swiftly retreating ten paces away.
In that instant, the indescribable sticky sensation of being locked onto by Liu Linglin’s Sword Intent vanished.
“Could it be that this range of ten paces is the key to Liu Linglin’s technique?” Bai Yao analyzed inwardly.
The deflected refined iron short sword quickly returned, hovering at her side, threads of Sword Qi coiling around the hilt, causing the blade to tremble faintly.
Liu Linglin tried to press the attack again, but found Bai Yao quickly sidestepping, always deliberately staying outside the ten-pace range.
“Oh… Bai Yao, your intuition isn’t bad.”
Liu Linglin chuckled lightly, making no move to chase, instead standing in place and twirling a strand of dark hair around her fingertip.
“Cultivating heaven and earth together… Liu Linglin, within ten paces of the Yin-Yang Harmony Art is your heaven and earth. Am I right?”
Bai Yao’s voice was cold and sharp.
“Hehe, so what if you’ve seen through it?”
Liu Linglin’s seductive eyes narrowed slightly.
“Your method of controlling objects with sword threads is nothing but a flashy Hands-Free Sword. Seven paces—that’s the limit of your Sword Qi condensed into threads, isn’t it? This cliff isn’t large. As long as I press forward step by step, you’ll eventually run out of options. Why not show your trump card a little earlier?”
Bai Yao’s gaze sharpened once more, violet-gold cold light flashing intensely in her eyes.
Her intuition told her—this woman had long since guessed the secret of the violet-gold Righteous Qi she carried within.
“So that’s it… Is it because of our same-origin true qi?”
Bai Yao should have guessed.
She could sense the other through the Violet Yang Grand Harmony Art, and the other could likewise detect the threat within her body through their shared origin aura.
The next instant, Bai Yao’s aura was no longer hidden.
The violet-gold Righteous Qi surged forth like a tidal wave, replacing the ordinary pure-white Righteous Qi.
That righteous light was no longer the faint gold of before, but an extremely bright violet-gold.
It instantly caused the refined iron short swords in her hand and at her side to hum ceaselessly, the blades growing hot from resonance.
“Since you’re so eager to see my trump card, then I might as well let this death match end quickly.”
Bai Yao’s voice grew even colder and more merciless, killing intent fully exposed.
Though Liu Linglin had long sensed that Bai Yao harbored something extremely dangerous to her, she still widened her beautiful eyes slightly, feeling a hint of shock at this violet-gold Righteous Qi unseen in a millennium.
But she quickly suppressed her inner turmoil, swiftly cutting her fingertip with the blade’s edge.
Blood welled from her fingertip.
Liu Linglin smeared the blood along her sword, her eyes burning with equally fierce killing intent.
“Since you intend to go all out, then I too shall cut you down with everything I have!” Liu Linglin’s voice suddenly turned harsh, all traces of seductiveness gone.
A formidable sword stance, as if forming its own world, rapidly encircled within ten paces around her.
The air grew viscous, as if tangled by invisible threads.
Even the branches and leaves of the red mulberry tree drooped slightly under this pressure.
This was Liu Linglin’s ultimate killing move: Sword Weaving Yin-Yang.