Chapter 55: The Sound of the Qin

At the same time that the qi within Li Guanyi began to rapidly transform.

The aerial battle in the sky reached its most intense moment.

Dragon and tiger entwined and merged; arrows and battle spears struck in relentless succession, forcing the hidden warrior to reveal his true form—his black soft armor, like dragon scales, covered his body, one hand gripping a slender sword, a dark golden mask obscuring his face.

One slash of the sword.

The owl spread its wings and let out a long shriek; black winds churned.

Both the dragon and tiger primordial energies were torn apart; Yue Qianfeng and Xue Daoyong both dodged.

Yue Qianfeng, seeing that dark golden, solemn mask, suddenly flew into rage: “The Shadow Sword, the Black Dragon Coiling Armor, and the Sunken Gold Mask worn by Duke Taiping when he dominated the Western Regions—why are they in the hands of a man as despicable as you?!”

Dressed in divine armor, wielding one of the top ten assassination weapons in the world.

Xue Daoyong’s eyes were icy with menace.

A Fasang-level warrior, clad in the Black Dragon Coiling Armor that masks his aura, wielding the elusive Shadow Sword.

If such an assassin crept close and struck hard…

The White Tiger paced through empty air; the old man chuckled: “Good.”

“Sitou Deqing, ranked tenth among all assassins in the world, wielding the third-greatest assassination weapon, the Shadow Sword.”

“The old man’s life is truly precious.”

“I’d even want to buy it myself.”

Before his words ended, the White Tiger roared, arrows like light rained furiously upon the opponent; Sitou Deqing’s cold gaze swept across the forest, lingering on the young boy galloping away from the battlefield—his brow furrowed slightly; he felt an odd sense of familiarity with the boy’s face.

Why did he feel this faint tremor in his heart?!

He instinctively raised his hand and touched the mask on his face.

A primal irritation and killing intent rose toward the boy.

He raised his hand; a dozen shadows erupted from the forest.

Some held arms crossbows forged of black gold, carrying golden nets specially designed to suppress martial cultivators’ Fasang forms, adorned with Daoist talismans, Buddhist relics, and Confucian scholarly artifacts, rising into the air.

Others leapt like starry pellets, faster than galloping horses, lunging toward Li Guanyi; the old man in the sky suddenly drew his bow and released the string, blasting forth a hundred beams of golden light.

Golden light crashed down, intercepting the assassins chasing Li Guanyi, exploding into craters on the ground; Yue Qianfeng raised his hand, and a crimson dragon roared across the heavens, suddenly opening its mouth—the dragon devoured the sea, forcibly dragging back the majority of the assassins.

His left hand clenched tightly; crimson fire gathered, then he slammed out a punch.

The crimson fire fell like a great sun upon the earth.

One punch burned away the primordial energy within a thirty-li radius.

It forcibly suppressed all the subtle applications of martial cultivators entering the realm—previously, they had flown swiftly as galloping horses; now their speed abruptly stalled, having nearly caught Li Guanyi, they were once again thrown far behind.

Xue Daoyong roared: “Return to the city!!!”

Yue Qianfeng also shouted: “Don’t turn back—charge forward!”

Sitou Deqing sneered: “Worry about yourselves instead. Without divine armor or sacred weapons, how much strength do you two have left after fighting fiercely for a stick of incense?!” The owl flapped its wings in response to thunder; most of the other assassins moved to use treasures from the Buddhist, Daoist, and Confucian sects to suppress the aura of these two supreme martialists.

Li Guanyi galloped wildly; after entering the realm, the bronze tripod trembled violently.

The struggle between Yue Qianfeng and Xue Daoyong had fully unleashed their dragon and tiger Fasang forms; the bronze tripod hummed, and the jade fluid began accumulating again at an astonishing rate. According to Li Guanyi’s “research” on the bronze tripod, each recognized Fasang form could be seen as a long progress bar—the spiritual essence absorbed transformed into jade fluid, directly tied to Li Guanyi’s realm.

Roughly speaking, the lower Li Guanyi’s realm, the less spiritual essence the tripod could absorb.

Now Li Guanyi had entered the realm.

The bronze tripod also upgraded, able to absorb more spiritual essence and convert it into jade fluid.

Jade fluid from the dragon and tiger Fasang forms surged into the tripod; since Yue Qianfeng and Xue Daoyong were both fighting with all their strength, the fluid filled the tripod almost visibly. At that moment, Li Guanyi heard a whisper of wind beside his ear; he hung his bow on the horse’s side and grabbed the long spear hanging from the iron hook nearby.

He didn’t even look.

He flicked his wrist and swept the spear sideways.

The spear blade flashed like cold light, colliding with a short sword; the spear’s weight, combined with the horse’s momentum, sent sparks flying; Li Guanyi’s tiger’s mouth throbbed with pain, and the assassin was flung backward, landing on a tree.

Li Guanyi remained calm—he had achieved his goal; now it was time to break free.

A third party could never act alone.

This, Li Guanyi had known since Yue Qianfeng first taught him.

Yue Qianfeng had shattered the surrounding primordial qi; restoring the heavenly qi took time, and the portion that recovered would be consumed by the battle between Yue Qianfeng, Xue Daoyong, and the others. These assassins chasing Li Guanyi had all originally been above the entry realm, of considerable rank.

Yet now they could only manifest power equivalent to below the entry realm.

All their sword qi, blade flashes, and mystical techniques were suppressed.

Like cooking without rice, drawing water without a source—they could barely use them.

Yet even so, they felt no concern over chasing Li Guanyi, who had ruined their plans.

After all, he was just a boy; not everyone was like Xiao Wuliang, who could charge into battle at thirteen. Even without their mystical techniques, their physical prowess and combat experience were far beyond what a mere boy could match.

More crossbow bolts flew; Li Guanyi’s back seemed to have eyes.

He threw himself forward, pressing against the horse’s neck, dodging the bolt.

His spear thrust forward with the momentum.

A giant crossed his arms.

His arms bore armor of dark iron.

The spear was blocked; Li Guanyi squeezed his legs against the horse, which neighed as if adding fire to the thrust—the man grunted and was speared upward, thrown into the air; after all, assassins excelled in aura manipulation, not physical strength.

Four assassins were chasing Li Guanyi.

Even with primordial qi sealed, their physical bodies still surpassed ordinary men—they could leap and strike with the speed of galloping horses. Li Guanyi, mounted, had abandoned his saber, gripping the spear with both hands; the spear moved like a coiling dragon, spinning and piercing around his body, blocking and parrying.

Leveraging the horse’s momentum, he held firm against the assassins’ first coordinated assault.

A volley of crossbow bolts fired; Li Guanyi raised his spear and deflected them.

He spun the spear violently, thrusting the tip against one assassin’s sword, while the butt slammed into another, his arms surging with divine strength to block a heavy cleaver descending from above—Li Guanyi held off four men at once, frowning as his meridians throbbed with dull pain.

Yue Qianfeng’s suppression of primordial qi had trapped Li Guanyi’s own breakthrough into the entry realm, halting the process of guiding heavenly qi to cleanse his body.

His internal qi remained inside, as if entered but not fully entered.

This aura could not connect outward to heaven and earth; it was trapped within Li Guanyi, refining and forging his physique.

This prolonged battle caused his star force and physical body to bind even tighter, like a volcano about to erupt suddenly blocked—the pressure built, his meridians grew increasingly painful; the assassins’ relentless attacks, like external force, scattered the dense qi within Li Guanyi.

The scattered qi merged directly into his body.

Instead, Li Guanyi felt an inexplicable sense of ease.

Then the dense qi was naturally replenished by the spiritual essence drawn into the bronze tripod as it absorbed jade fluid.

Anyone targeted by multiple assassins above their own realm would feel fear.

But Li Guanyi’s eyes held not a ripple.

He had once faced the sharpest edge of the world’s greatest, and he could not summon fear toward these men; he suddenly shook his spear—whether illusion or not, because the internal aura had been scattered and absorbed into his body, his strength surged; his waist and legs unified, the spear swept sideways, forcibly driving back the assassins.

“Get out!!!”

The assassins were driven back, their expressions grim.

How fierce was this boy?!

The eldest assassin, upon first seeing Li Guanyi, had felt a sense of familiarity.

Now, seeing the boy charge on horseback, spear swinging, his eyes cold, hair fluttering, a small mole at the corner of his left eye, sword-like brows and starlit eyes—his long-buried memories stirred; his face changed instantly, and he blurted out: “It’s you!!!”

“It’s the Tai…”

“It’s the child from ten years ago!!!”

His face turned frantic, as if he’d seen a caged cub or some nightmare.

He froze for an instant, then lost his assassin’s composure and shouted:

“Kill him! Kill him for sure!”

Li Guanyi heard those words and his heart jolted; he demanded: “Ten years ago?!”

Those people?

Weren’t they the Night Gallop Cavalry?

What he had once taken for granted now showed a crack—a development beyond his expectations. Today’s bold charge had revealed a sliver of the secret he cared about most.

And the assassin who recognized Li Guanyi seemed convinced this was the more important matter.

Without hesitation, he abandoned his comrades, Li Guanyi, even Xue Daoyong, and turned to flee.

The other assassins exchanged glances, each using techniques to cover the retreat; Li Guanyi turned to pursue, fired an arrow—the White Tiger arrow struck the assassin squarely in the back; his spear thrust forward—suddenly, a sharp crack echoed; his combat instinct kicked in, he swung the spear sideways, the blade carving an arc that knocked the assassin’s weapon flying.

Then he felt his palm grow heavy—the spear in his hand was chained.

The chain flew from another direction, locking onto the spear’s butt.

The other end of the chain was driven deep into the mountain rock.

The assassins had another ambush.

Had it not been for Yue Qianfeng shattering the primordial qi, these would have been experts capable of deploying other techniques—meant as a backup left by Grandpa Xue Daoyong.

Cold light flashed; assassins lunged forward; Li Guanyi hurled his spear away, abandoning the weapon, leaping from the horse; the cold light descended—the steed that had carried Li Guanyi into battle let out a mournful neigh, collapsed with a crash, black blood flowing from all seven orifices, its hooves twitched once, then stilled.

The boy’s eyes burned with rage.

A giant retracted his right hand.

In it, a massive meteor hammer.

Covered in blood—it had killed the horse, depriving Li Guanyi of his mount’s momentum. In the instant of flipping, Li Guanyi had already seized his bow, spun, drew the war bow; the dragon and tiger Fasang forms spiraled—here, primordial qi was sealed, but the Fasang’s power remained; the arrow glowed with light and shot forth.

An assassin of the third level above entry realm raised his hand to block the arrow.

Fiery light erupted, jolting his weapon upward.

The second arrow, fired in rapid succession, pierced his throat, pinning him to the tree.

But the enemy was not just one.

A sharp flash of cold light passed; Li Guanyi could only raise his battle bow in time—his wrist throbbed, and the Su Ni bow, worth over a thousand guan, was split in two. A blade with a razor edge descended, its reflection visible in Li Guanyi’s eyes. He reacted swiftly, twisting his right hand.

The bowstring coiled instantly around the attacker’s wrist, then his arms twisted sharply.

The bowstring cut like a blade, severing the man’s wrist instantly; blood gushed out, dripping to the ground. Five assassins remained, surrounding Li Guanyi. He exhaled a turbid breath, his entry into the realm cutting off all connection with external Qi—the internal Qi circled, raising his body’s temperature.

He released the battle bow, gripping the ink-black blade, his gaze calm as he faced the five assassins.

They were five, each at a higher realm than he.

Yet in that instant, the assassins felt a strange illusion—that it was he who had intercepted them. The ink blade hummed with a shrill cry. The assassin who had slain the warhorse attempted to shatter Li Guanyi’s resolve with words, speaking coldly: “You cannot escape. Surrender, and we’ll spare your life.”

“Even if we cannot use the methods available after entry.”

“But our experience in close combat is no illusion—it is beyond your capacity to match.”

“Without your warhorse’s momentum, how much of your battlefield martial arts can you still wield?”

He spoke slowly, each word designed to crush Li Guanyi’s spirit.

Whether by coincidence or because one instinctively flees toward the familiar, this place was not far from the Xue family’s secret realm.

Li Guanyi glanced at the stream where the waters converged—he knew Yaoguang waited behind the cliff, and his heart eased.

She couldn’t possibly be gnawing on steamed buns.

He gripped the blade, raising his brow as Xue Shen had done, and whispered:

“I learned horseback combat for only seven days. What I truly excel in...”

The opponent never heard the rest—these words were merely bait. As soon as he finished speaking, the boy surged forward like a wild tiger, his black hair whipping up. A fleeting afterimage flashed before the assassin’s eyes—a brutal blade descended.

“It is foot combat.”

………………

The assassin who spotted Li Guanyi’s true form quickly withdrew, determined to relay this unexpected discovery. He was certain: with this boy’s face and aura, he would have been found eventually—even without today’s events. But fortune favored him.

The fact that he had discovered Li Guanyi now meant he could redeem himself.

He exhaled in relief, suddenly finding his arrow wound less severe. For some reason, the forest that had seemed inescapable now appeared extraordinarily beautiful—the sunlight blazed, flowers perfumed the air, wind rustled through the treetops.

The sound of rustling leaves resembled music.

Graceful. Beautiful.

“Music?!?!”

He froze mid-step.