The Daoist’s smile faded, his gaze fixed on Xu Ning with suspicion.
So this was the mortal guest elder Zhou Huai had spoken of?
No.
This man’s aura was concealed with remarkable depth.
At first glance, he did indeed look like a mortal with little cultivation.
But a mortal could never have walked this far under his blood energy.
Looking at the clay urn in Xu Ning’s arms, he frowned briefly, then smiled again.
“It seems my unworthy disciple caused you no small amount of trouble, Daoist friend.”
Yet even as he spoke, a flicker of coldness passed through his eyes.
The Tu Lian he had painstakingly refined for years had fallen at the hands of a guest elder of unknown depth.
What a waste.
Still, it mattered little.
Before him stood a true disciple of Taiwei.
If he could refine this prodigy of Cold Sword Peak into a sword corpse, she would prove far more useful than that worthless Tu Lian.
As his thoughts turned, the Daoist’s smile grew even warmer than before.
Xu Ning watched the shifts of emotion on his face.
Even if he couldn’t guess the man’s exact intentions, he knew it couldn’t be anything good.
He said flatly, “Who’s your Daoist friend?”
This devil cultivator actually dared to drag him into association?
Meeting his gaze, the Daoist did not grow angry.
Xu Ning paid him no further attention, turning and walking toward Luo Zhao.
From start to finish, he did not so much as glance at Lu Hanyi, who stood leaning on her sword.
Luo Zhao still knelt amid the frost-mud and blood, his face ashen.
The pressure of the Crystallization realm pressed down so heavily that he couldn’t lift his head, his fingers trembling.
Xu Ning walked up to him and frowned.
“Dead yet?”
As he spoke, Xu Ning raised a hand, sending a wisp of green spiritual power into his body.
The green energy flowed in, and the cold blood energy coiled around Luo Zhao’s meridians receded somewhat.
The Crystallization realm’s pressure still weighed heavily upon him, but at last Luo Zhao could catch his breath.
He barely managed to push himself upright, then looked up at Xu Ning in shock.
“You… how are you…”
This sight also fell into the eyes of Lu Hanyi and the White Bone Daoist.
Lu Hanyi’s gaze sharpened slightly.
Xu Ning held the clay urn out to Luo Zhao.
“Keep this safe for Brother Sun.”
“Otherwise, I won’t be able to answer for it.”
He could take items out of the Spirit Storage Bag, but he didn’t know how to put them back in.
He’d have to return to Zhaoyue… he’d have to ask later.
Luo Zhao’s lips trembled.
Dazedly, he reached out and took it.
The urn was very light.
But the moment it landed in his hands, it felt so heavy that his heart shuddered.
“This is…”
“Hold it tight.”
Xu Ning didn’t answer, only gave the instruction with solemn gravity.
Luo Zhao’s arms tightened around the urn, the color draining further from his face.
The Daoist watched this scene, then suddenly let out a scoffing laugh.
Xu Ning turned and looked at him.
Meeting his gaze, the Daoist seemed quite pleased with his reaction.
“Why look at me like that? That’s just how this world works.”
“Your friend died here because his own fate was thin. Surely you can’t blame me for that?”
Xu Ning was silent for a moment before speaking.
“He’s not my friend.”
“Oh?”
The Daoist’s brow twitched slightly, as if he hadn’t expected that answer.
“I didn’t know Brother Sun all that well.”
Xu Ning looked at him with indifferent calm.
“But he was still one of the countless living beings you spoke of so fondly just now.”
“As the books say, a bird’s cry is mournful when it nears death; a man’s words are kind when his end approaches. I simply couldn’t bear it.”
“And you—your mouth is full of living beings, but do you truly care?”
The warmth in the Daoist’s eyes vanished completely.
Blood energy flowed slowly within his sleeves, and even the roiling demonic aura around them seemed to sink heavier.
“Young man, don’t think that speaking a few words for a dead man means you understand the living.”
“Every being has their own desires. The pursuit of fame and gain is the natural course of the Great Dao.”
The Daoist turned his gaze to Lu Hanyi, who stood not far away, propped against her sword.
“Can you honestly say there’s no resentment in your heart?”
Xu Ning frowned.
“Why would I resent anything?”
The Daoist raised a finger, pointing at Lu Hanyi.
“Standing here now is a true disciple of Taiwei Immortal Sect—a noble immortal maiden beyond your reach.”
“And what are you?”
He coaxed, step by step.
“A mere guest elder of mortal birth. In this entire life, you will never have the right to sit at the same table with her.”
“Shut up! Mind your own tongue!”
Lu Hanyi’s gaze turned icy cold, her aura in disarray, yet Zhaoxue had already been drawn from the ground.
She forced herself forward a step, her blade sweeping up a trail of frost light, slashing straight at the Daoist’s throat.
The strike was extremely fast.
The Daoist merely glanced at it and swept his sleeve aside.
Blood light rolled through like a tide, and the frost-white sword energy shattered on the spot.
Lu Hanyi’s body swayed, nearly falling to her knees.
Her white robes stained with blood, even those always-cold eyes now held pain she could barely suppress.
Seeing her in such a sorry state, Xu Ning was momentarily stunned.
He couldn’t help but ask, “Why didn’t you run?”
Lu Hanyi shot him a cold glare, but deemed him unworthy of a rebuttal.
“Xu… Brother Xu…”
Beside him, Luo Zhao’s voice trembled.
“Brother Liu… is… is dead.”
Xu Ning froze.
Following Luo Zhao’s gaze, he finally saw the sleeve soaked through with blood on the broken carriage shaft.
His eyes blurred for a moment, then he looked back at Lu Hanyi.
Her face was pale, the hand holding her sword still trembling slightly, yet her expression remained so cold it was almost inhuman.
A complicated feeling stirred in his chest.
No matter how much friction existed between him and Lu Hanyi, he had no right to treat her staying here to fight as something she owed him.
The Daoist took all of this in and suddenly smiled with meaning.
“I see now.”
His gaze swept between Xu Ning and Lu Hanyi.
“This humble priest thought you truly had a heart of stone.”
“It seems this exalted immortal maiden is, after all, different in your heart.”
Lu Hanyi’s eyes turned icy.
But the Daoist didn’t look at her, only fixing his gaze on Xu Ning.
“True enough.”
“A prodigy of Taiwei like her, usually cold as the moon, compared to the likes of us—cloud and mud.”
“But now, she’s wounded like this, her life and death hanging on a single thought of mine.”
Malice lurked in his eyes.
“Daoist friend.”
“Just give the word, and I’ll break that proud bearing of hers for you.”
“Then whether this immortal maiden kneels and begs or lowers her head in submission will be entirely up to you.”
He didn’t truly intend to give Lu Hanyi to Xu Ning.
He merely wanted to see what greedy, ugly faces these people would show when faced with a lofty prodigy fallen to such a state.
If Xu Ning actually agreed, Lu Hanyi would learn that in others’ eyes, she was nothing more than a plaything to be disposed of at will.
The thought was amusing.
The Daoist waited patiently, coaxing.
“Well? Tempted?”
Lu Hanyi’s lips had gone pale, but her grip on Zhaoxue only tightened.
Xu Ning understood the malice in the Daoist’s eyes.
He said coldly, “You really want me to agree?”
That aloof bearing of his was rather similar to someone’s.
The Daoist’s brow twitched slightly, but he smiled without speaking.
Xu Ning’s voice remained calm, but amid the bloody air, it had turned far colder.
“If she owes me something, I’ll collect it myself.”
“But who do you think you are, to offer her to me as a gift?”
Lu Hanyi’s hand on Zhaoxue suddenly clenched.
She shot Xu Ning an irritated look, but all she could see was his profile.
The Daoist’s expression darkened, and he swept his sleeve in a single motion.
“Ungrateful fool!”
The surrounding blood energy churned aggressively against the pale green spiritual light, sending up fine ripples.
Xu Ning continued unhurriedly, “You said the immortal sects sit high above the clouds, trampling on mortals to survive.”
“But now that you have the upper hand, all you think of is humiliating the defeated and passing people around like objects.”
He looked at the Daoist, as if seeing a soul long shrouded in darkness.
And Tu Lian—that pitiful, laughable wailing.
“You never cared about the countless living beings.”
“What you hate is simply that the one standing at the top isn’t you.”
“Am I right?”