Chapter 56: 56. Chapter 56

56. Chapter 56

Guan San is currently stroking the server; please complete your subscription to defeat him! He had almost been shot through; asking why the arrow appeared here was now meaningless. Clearly, the opponent's target was him.

However, this made no sense.

The mountain gate of the Tianxing Sect was one 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. Moreover, heaven is my witness, this was his first time leaving the island; what kind of enemies could he possibly have!

A thousand thoughts surged through his mind. Zhao Kuo might indeed lack experience, but no one who could enter the Beihai Sword Sect was a fool. Whether the person firing the cold arrow came from the Tianxing Sect or not, they were clearly ill-intentioned. Furthermore, since the opponent could approach without him noticing, their cultivation was obviously above his own. The most urgent task was to evade first.

Thus, while forming a Sword seal, he reached out to pull Atian. Unexpectedly, with this pull, he didn't manage to move her at all.

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

"He has left," Atian replied calmly. Her left hand gently brushed away the youth's hand gripping her right arm, and she gripped the crackling arrow with both hands, snapping it cleanly and throwing it to the ground.

Watching the Tianxing Sect's signature Dharma treasure look as fragile as a withered branch in the young girl's hands, Zhao Kuo felt as if he were dreaming.

"Is the Immortal Elder 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-drum, "Are you sure he has left?"

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

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

Zhao Kuo felt a bit flustered. Disciples of the Beihai Sword Sect were required to descend the mountain for training once they reached a certain age. Considering his young age and low cultivation, this task, which had almost no difficulty, had been assigned to him. Who would have thought an assassin suspected to be from the Tianxing Sect would appear and disrupt his pace entirely? Moreover, this child-bride of the Senior Brother, who looked like a mortal without any cultivation no matter how one observed her, had not only caught the Soul-Chasing Arrow with her bare hands but could also track a cultivator's movements, which truly gave him a great shock.

But Zhao Kuo was a man after all, and he prided himself on being a Sword Cultivator; he could not 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 expert from the outside world was likely unsalvageable.

He bent down to pick up the arrow broken into two pieces, carefully examining the residual Dharma power fluctuations on it, and arrived at a rough estimate of the enemy's strength—late-stage Qi Refining. This judgment made him heave a sigh of relief. Although the enemy was a layer 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 as he had this time.

However, he was not alone; he was accompanied by Bai Tian, and even if 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 other matters 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 other party, which seemed to say, "You are so weak, it must be hard for you in the Beihai Sword Sect," and the True Qi circulating in his body almost went astray.

Yet he had to admit that the move Atian had just pulled off was something he himself absolutely could not have done.

Was Senior Brother Bai Xinli really insisting on seeing 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, this was not a good time to investigate. Since they had encountered unexpected danger, Zhao Kuo could no longer care about the rule that "a Sword Cultivator's sword must not be touched by outsiders." He abandoned the ridiculous large basket, pulled Atian onto his heavy sword which was already hovering in the air, changed a Dharma seal with his hand, and the long sword shot up from the ground, soaring straight into the clouds.

This was Atian's first experience with sword flight. Even though she was usually calm, she was frightened into grabbing 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 a sense of dizziness. It was only at this moment that she had a real sense that the person before her was truly an "Immortal Elder" with divine means.

Although this "Immortal Elder" was not very good at fighting.

"It is inevitable to feel some discomfort during your first sword flight. If you feel anything wrong, Miss, you must tell me in time." Even though he didn't think Atian, with her heaven-defying physique capable of snapping a Dharma treasure 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, though I didn't 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 Immortal Sect, and I don't know if there will be other dangers on this journey, I will explain it to you."

"The person who ambushed us just now should be a disciple of the Tianxing Sect. The arrow you caught is called the Soul-Chasing Arrow, which is their signature Dharma treasure. The Tianxing Sect's techniques are 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 and my Beihai Sword Sect have no past grievances or recent grudges; I truly cannot think of any reason for them to assassinate me."

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

Zhao Kuo did not 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 they 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 be renamed "The Little Liar," could not bring himself to lie to Atian and tell her they were as close as family with the other three great 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 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 that begged for a beating, there was the unavoidable competition between top-tier forces and the conflict between Dharma Cultivators and Sword Cultivators that had been entangled since the ancient era. So many contradictions gathered together created a troublesome situation where one side felt the other was sharp-tongued and unreasonable, while the other felt 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 incomparable to the Fangxian Dao, which occupied the entire southern continent alone, and 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 listed among 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 great immortal sects shared the same origin and were one family in the ancient era, but they took completely different paths in their subsequent development.

The Fangxian Dao practiced the art of the Cinnabar Cauldron, 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 viewed the other as demonic heretics who had defiled the Dao Lineage of the ancestors. If one were to count the grievances between the two sects, one could probably write a grand chronicle.

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

Atian, who had grown up in Guangkai Town, naturally did not 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 understand," she nodded earnestly, "That is to say, Miss Bei and Miss Fang both want to be the town beauty. Miss Fang is the magistrate's daughter and has power at home; Miss Bei is the scholar's daughter and reads many books. However, reading many books ultimately cannot beat having power at home, so Miss Bei united with the wealthy merchant's daughter, Miss Xuan, to jointly resist the overbearing Miss Fang."

After finishing, she even sighed: "You all don't have it easy."

Zhao Kuo did not understand why the complex relationships of the big shots in the cultivation world turned into a village palace drama in Atian's mouth, but upon closer thought, it seemed there was nothing wrong with it. He could only open his mouth, and after a long while, he squeezed out, "... What 'you all,' 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 decent to distance herself, so she quickly nodded to show her remedy.

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

As a big shot of the generation, 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 was not much higher to test him and then just give up.

But he could probably understand the opponent's feelings about turning and running; after all, seeing a mortal catch a Dharma treasure with bare hands, he was also quite frightened.

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's brows furrowed, 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 ambushed.