Chapter 3

3. Chapter Three

Zhao Kuo recognized this arrow; or rather, everyone in the cultivation world recognized this arrow, but it absolutely should not have appeared here.

"The Tianxing Sect's Soul-Chasing Arrow... why would it..." He closed his mouth before finishing the sentence.

Having nearly been shot through, there was no point in asking why the arrow appeared here; clearly, the other party's target was him.

However, this made no sense.

The Tianxing Sect's mountain gate was a hundred and eight thousand miles away from Guangkai Town; it was hard to imagine someone traveling such a long distance just to assassinate a Qi Refining disciple of the Beihai Sword Sect. And heaven is my witness, this was his first time leaving the island—what kind of enemies could he possibly have!

A thousand thoughts flooded his mind. Zhao Kuo might indeed lack experience, but no one who could enter the Beihai Sword Sect was a fool. Regardless of whether the person who fired the cold arrow came from the Tianxing Sect, they were clearly not here with good intentions. Moreover, since the other party had managed to strike without him noticing, their cultivation was obviously above his own. The most urgent priority was to escape first.

Thus, while forming a Sword Art with his fingers, he reached out to pull Atian, but to his surprise, he couldn't budge her.

Zhao Kuo was anxious, "Miss Bai! You come with me first...!"

"He left," Atian answered calmly. Her left hand gently brushed away the hand the youth had on her right arm, and with both hands, she gripped the crackling arrow and snapped it cleanly in two before throwing it to the ground.

Zhao Kuo watched the Tianxing Sect's signature magical artifact break like a withered twig in the young girl's hands, feeling as if he were dreaming.

"Immortal Elder, are you injured?" Completely unaware of how shocking her actions were, Atian turned her head to ask him.

"Oh... no, no, no," Zhao Kuo shook his head like a rattle, "Are you sure he has left?"

"He left," Atian nodded, "He ran away very fast."

To flee a thousand miles after a single failed strike—that was indeed the style of the Tianxing Sect.

Zhao Kuo felt a bit flustered. Beihai Sword Sect disciples were required to descend the mountain for training once they reached a certain age. Considering his young age and low cultivation, he had been assigned this task, which was supposed to have almost no difficulty. Who would have thought an assassin suspected to be from the Tianxing Sect would appear and disrupt his pace? Furthermore, this child-bride of his Senior Brother, who looked like a mortal without a shred of cultivation, had not only caught a Soul-Chasing Arrow with her bare hands but could also judge the movements of a cultivator, which truly shocked him.

However, Zhao Kuo was a man after all, and he prided himself on being a Sword Cultivator; he couldn't show cowardice in front of a young mortal girl. He managed to grit his teeth and maintain a calm expression, though after the "beauty saving the hero" scene that had just occurred, his image as an aloof expert was likely ruined.

He bent down to pick up the arrow broken into two pieces and carefully examined the residual magical power fluctuations, gaining a rough estimate of the enemy's strength—late-stage Qi Refining. This judgment made him breathe a huge sigh of relief. Although the enemy was a level or two higher than him, Sword Cultivators were known for their fierce attacks, which was enough to compensate for this gap in cultivation. If they were to face each other head-on, he might not end up in such a sorry state.

It was just that he was not alone; he had Bai Tian with him, and even though she had just performed an astonishing feat, it did not change the fact that she was a mortal.

Thinking of this, he stood up and looked at Atian, gritting his teeth, "Miss Bai, we must leave quickly before he returns. I will explain the rest to you on the way..."

"Immortal Elder Zhao," Atian interrupted him, patting the youth's shoulder in a soothing manner, "Do not be afraid."

Zhao Kuo looked at the large eyes of the girl, which seemed to say, "You are so weak, life in the Beihai Sword Sect must be hard for you," and the Qi circulating in his body nearly went awry.

Yet, he had to admit that the move Atian had just pulled off was something he himself could absolutely never do.

Was Senior Brother Bai Xinli really meeting this child-bride because he was afraid the "cooked duck would fly away"? He suddenly began to doubt this.

However, even with many questions in his heart, now was not the right time to investigate. Since they had encountered an unexpected danger, Zhao Kuo could no longer worry about the rule that "a Sword Cultivator's sword must not be touched by outsiders." He abandoned that ridiculous large basket, pulled Atian onto his heavy sword that was already hovering in the air, changed a hand seal, and the long sword rose from the ground, shooting straight into the clouds.

This was Atian's first time experiencing sword flight. Even though she was usually calm, she was frightened enough to grab the youth's shoulders in front of her. Watching the heavy sword beneath her feet move further and further from the ground, she actually felt dizzy. It was only at this moment that she had a real sense that the person in front of her was truly an "Immortal Elder" possessing divine means.

Although this "Immortal Elder" wasn't very good at fighting.

"It is inevitable to feel some discomfort during your first sword flight. If you feel unwell, Miss, you must tell me in time." Even though he didn't think Atian, with her heaven-defying physique capable of snapping magical artifacts with her bare hands, would be bothered by mere sword flight, Zhao Kuo still reminded her dutifully.

Just kidding—if this girl couldn't cultivate, then he might as well go to the back mountain to grow vegetables.

Atian's body naturally felt no discomfort; her attention remained on the recent experience, "Was that the Immortal Elder's enemy just now?"

Hearing this, Zhao Kuo revealed a slightly bitter smile, "Perhaps. I didn't even know I had such an enemy before."

Seeing Atian reveal a curious expression, he gathered his spirits and continued, "Since you have a connection with my Xiuxianmen, and I don't know if there will be other dangers on this journey, I will tell you about it."

"The person who ambushed us just now should be a disciple of the Tianxing Sect. The arrow you caught is called a Soul-Chasing Arrow, which is their signature magical artifact. The Tianxing Sect's techniques have always been known for concealment and speed. It's just that we only saw one arrow, so it's unknown if someone else was impersonating them," Zhao Kuo said, "It's just that the Tianxing Sect has no past grievances or recent grudges with my Beihai Sword Sect; I really can't think of any reason for them to assassinate me."

"Maybe they just don't like the look of you. The county magistrate's daughter and Scholar Lü's daughter are the same; they are always fighting each other." So said the female demon king who had run rampant in Guangkai Town for many years.

Zhao Kuo didn't know the inside story, but his heart stirred upon hearing this. The Tianxing Sect was located at the southern end of the Yuanguang Continent, right in the territory of the Fangxian Dao, one of the Four Great Immortal Sects, and had always followed the lead of the Fangxian Dao. As for the relationships between the Four Great Immortal Sects, even Zhao Kuo, whose Sword Heart was about to change into that of a "Liar," couldn't bring himself to lie to Atian and tell her they were as close as family with the other three sects.

The Yuanguang Continent was only so big, and there were only so many people who could cultivate. They bumped into each other every few days, so no matter how good their tempers were, friction was inevitable—not to mention that the ability of Sword Cultivators to offend people was just as outstanding as their attack power. Among the many fellow practitioners, the one the Beihai Sword Sect offended the most was the Fangxian Dao.

The reasons for the feud between the Beihai Sword Sect and the Fangxian Dao were complex. Aside from the Sword Cultivators' sharp tongues, there was the unavoidable competition between top powers and the long-standing conflict between Dharma Cultivators and Sword Cultivators that had been entangled since ancient times. So many contradictions gathered together, creating a troublesome situation where one side thought the other was unreasonable and sharp-tongued, while the other side thought the other was hypocritical and dark.

However, compared to Dharma Cultivators who could cast a wide net, the cultivation qualifications for Sword Cultivators were much harsher. This meant that the number of people in the Beihai Sword Sect was completely insufficient compared to the Fangxian Dao, which occupied the entire southern continent alone, so they had no advantage in verbal sparring.

Fortunately, there was another sect in the north that was even more at odds with the Fangxian Dao, and that was the Taixuan Sect, which was also one of the Four Great Immortal Sects.

If the Beihai Sword Sect and the Fangxian Dao were an external conflict, then the Taixuan Sect and the Fangxian Dao were an internal conflict, and an even more irreconcilable one.

Fundamentally, these two Immortal Sects shared the same origin and were one family in ancient times, but they took vastly different paths in their subsequent development.

The Fangxian Dao practiced the art of the Danding Sect, specializing in refining pills, and even developed a method of using one's own body as a furnace to refine the Five Gods. As for the Taixuan Sect, they called themselves the Talisman Sect, famous for their talisman arts. Both sides regarded the other as evil, polluting the Dao Lineage of their founding masters. If one were to count the grievances between the two sects, one could probably write an epic chronicle.

Against this backdrop, it was only natural for the Beihai Sword Sect and the Taixuan Sect to band together against the Fangxian Dao; the enemy of an enemy is a friend, after all.

Atian, who grew up in Guangkai Town, naturally didn't understand what the conflict between Dharma Cultivators and Sword Cultivators was, nor could she understand the difference between the Danding Sect and the Talisman Sect, but she had her own way of understanding.

"I get it," she nodded seriously, "In other words, Miss Bei and Miss Fang both want to be the town beauty. Miss Fang is the county magistrate's daughter, and her family has power. Miss Bei is the scholar's daughter and reads a lot of books. However, reading a lot of books can't beat having power, so Miss Bei teamed up with the rich merchant's daughter, Miss Xuan, to fight against the overbearing Miss Fang."

After finishing, she added with a sigh: "You guys don't have it easy either."

Zhao Kuo didn't understand why the complex relationships of the cultivation world turned into rural palace intrigue in Atian's mouth, but upon closer inspection, it didn't seem wrong. He could only open his mouth, and after a long while, he squeezed out, "... What 'you guys,' it should be 'us'."

Atian thought about how she was going to attend the Ascension Ceremony they were holding, and it was indeed not very kind to distance herself, so she quickly nodded to make amends.

However, even if Atian understood why Zhao Kuo would suspect the Fangxian Dao, it didn't mean the mystery was solved.

As a big shot, it was hard to imagine the Fangxian Dao would order its underlings to assassinate a nobody like Zhao Kuo. Even if they really did that, they wouldn't send someone whose cultivation wasn't much higher just to probe and then call it a day.

But he could probably understand the other party's feelings about turning and running; after all, he was also quite frightened to see a mortal catch a magical artifact with her bare hands.

Can't figure it out, can't figure it out, no matter how he thought about it, he couldn't figure it out.

Zhao Kuo frowned, feeling his train of thought had hit a dead end. However, this appearance in the eyes of others was naturally because he was worried about being assassinated.

"Immortal Elder, do not be afraid," Atian said gently, not forgetting to roll up her sleeves to reveal her fair arms and pat the thin layer of muscle on them, "For that kind of weakling, I can take on ten of them by myself."

You, what did you just say?

Facing the wide-eyed Zhao Kuo, Atian lowered her head and smiled shyly.