Chapter 99: 99. Chapter Ninety-Nine

99. Chapter Ninety-Nine

Guan San is currently stroking the server; please complete your subscription to defeat him! Zhao Kuo recognized this arrow—or rather, the entire cultivation world would recognize this arrow—but it was absolutely not an arrow that should 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, it was meaningless to ask why the arrow had appeared here; clearly, the opponent's target was him.

However, this made no sense.

The Tianxing Sect's mountain gate was hundreds of thousands of 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 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. Moreover, since the opponent had managed to strike without him noticing, their cultivation was obviously above his own. The most urgent priority was to evade first.

Thus, while forming a Sword Art with his fingers, he reached out to pull Atian. Unexpectedly, this pull didn't budge her at all.

Zhao Kuo was greatly alarmed, "Miss Bai! You first follow me...!"

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

Zhao Kuo watched the Tianxing Sect's signature magical tool look as fragile as a withered branch in the young girl's hands, and he 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, "Are you sure he has already left?"

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

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

Zhao Kuo felt a bit panicked. 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 could have known that an assassin suspected to be from the Tianxing Sect would appear and completely disrupt his pace? Furthermore, this child-bride of his Senior Brother, who looked like a mortal without any cultivation, had not only caught the Soul-Chasing Arrow with her bare hands but could also determine a cultivator's movements, which truly shocked him.

However, 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 that had been snapped in two, carefully examining the residual magical power fluctuations on it, and arrived at 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 layer or two higher than him, Sword Cultivators were always 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.

It was just that he was not alone; he was accompanied by Bai Tian, 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 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 were filled with the message, "You are so weak, it must be hard for you in the Beihai Sword Sect," and the true Qi circulating in his body nearly went astray.

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

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

However, even with so many questions in his heart, now was not a good time to investigate. Since he 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 directly abandoned the ridiculous large basket, pulled Atian onto his heavy sword which 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 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 truly felt that the person in front of her was an "Immortal Elder" with divine methods.

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 that Atian, with her heaven-defying physique capable of snapping a magical tool with her bare hands, would be unable to handle a 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 experience just now, "Was that the Immortal Elder's enemy?"

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

Seeing Atian show 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 along the way, 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 the Soul-Chasing Arrow, which is their signature magical tool. 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 come and assassinate me."

"Perhaps 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 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 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 conscience-bound tell Atian that they were as close as family with the other three great immortal 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 friction was inevitable no matter how good their tempers were, 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 had offended the most severely was the Fangxian Dao.

The reasons for the feud between the Beihai Sword Sect and the Fangxian Dao were complex. Aside from the sharp tongues of the Sword Cultivators, there was the inevitable competition between top-tier powers and the struggle 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 felt the other was unreasonable and sharp-tongued, while the other felt the other was hypocritical and dark.

However, compared to the Dharma Cultivators who could cast a wide net, the cultivation qualifications for Sword Cultivators were much more stringent. This also 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, and they had no advantage when it came to 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 contradiction, then the Taixuan Sect and the Fangxian Dao were an internal contradiction, and an even more irreconcilable one at that.

Fundamentally, these two great immortal sects shared the same origin and were one family in ancient times, but they had taken completely different paths in their subsequent development.

The Fangxian Dao practiced the art of the Danding Sect, specializing in refining medicinal 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 and were famous for their talisman arts. Both sides viewed the other as evil heretics who had defiled the Dao Lineage of their ancestors. 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 to resist the Fangxian Dao; after all, the enemy of an enemy is a friend.

Atian, who had grown up in Guangkai Town, naturally did not understand what the struggle 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 seriously, "In other words, Miss Bei and Miss Fang both want to be the town's beauty. Miss Fang is the county magistrate's daughter, so her family has power. Miss Bei is the scholar's daughter and reads a lot of books. However, reading a lot of books ultimately cannot beat having power in the family, so Miss Bei joined forces with Miss Xuan, the rich merchant's daughter, to jointly resist the power-abusing Miss Fang."

After finishing, she sighed, "You guys don't have it easy either."

Zhao Kuo did not understand why the complex relationships of the big shots in the cultivation world had 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 time, he squeezed out, "... What 'you guys,' we should say 'us'."

Atian thought about how she was just about to attend the Ascension Ceremony held by them, and it was indeed not very kind to distance herself, so she quickly nodded to show she was making amends.

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

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