traitor
The silence deep in the cave was like cotton wool soaked in water, weighing heavily on every inch of the air.
The golden light slowly condensed three feet to the side of the two men. When Gao's figure emerged from the light mist, the light golden lines on the hem of his clothes were still flowing, as if crushed starlight was woven into the moon-white fabric.
He lowered his eyes to gaze at the scattered banyan leaves on the ground. Left behind by Yingtang, the leaves still clung to a pale green healer's energy, trembling gently with the air. A hint of coldness flashed across his turquoise pupils, and the sound was like ice fished from a thousand-year-old pond, crashing into the silent cave.
"Yan Xiu, why did you call me out?"
Yan Xiu looked at Gao quietly, but Gao smiled and uttered two words:
"traitor."
Yan Xiu never raised his head, his eyes fixed on Yun Xiu's sleeping face.
Her eyelashes were very long, drooping under her eyes and casting a faint shadow. Her breathing was as light as butterfly wings landing on flower petals, but her brows were still slightly furrowed, as if she was also enduring the pain of disordered divine power in her dream.
The spiritual power at his fingertips slowed down, and his voice was flat and without any fluctuation: "In your current state, you can't do anything."
Gao's pupils suddenly shrank into slits, like a frightened cat. The golden light around him instantly became sharp, as if countless invisible blades were suspended in mid-air.
However, he immediately relaxed and smiled as if in relief. He pointed at Yunxiu.
"As long as she's killed..."
"Can you rebuild the divine body?"
Yan Xiu finally raised his eyes. He didn't show any fear at all, but instead had a kind of calmness that saw through everything.
"You don't even have a complete soul now. You are just a remnant soul that can only be condensed with the help of Yunxiu's divine essence."
He raised his hand, guiding a wisp of cold white divine power to slowly flow along Yunxiu's wrist vein. The divine power gently circled around her body, and finally stopped at her heart, condensing into a faint light.
"You rely on her divine essence to maintain your form. Even mobilizing 30% of your divine power consumes most of your soul essence. You want the world to pay the price? First think about how to preserve your soul that could dissipate at any time. Why don't you be honest?"
"You are so presumptuous."
Gao laughed in anger, and the golden light around him suddenly surged, turning into dozens of sharp blades of light, heading straight for Yan Xiu's face.
The light blade was wrapped in a suffocating pressure. Wherever it passed, the air seemed to be burned and distorted. The fluorescent moss on the rock wall withered instantly, and even the banyan leaves left by Yingtang turned into ashes. The gravel on the top of the cave fell down, hitting the bluestone slabs with a dull sound.
The frontmost blade of light had already touched the tip of Yan Xiu's hair. The inky hair was lifted up by the divine power, carrying a biting chill.
Yan Xiu didn't move at all.
He didn't even raise his hand to block, but simply grabbed Yunxiu's wrist with his backhand, pressing his thumb firmly against the pulse point on her wrist. A faint but clear divine energy wave pulsed there.
The next second, the cold white divine power in Yan Xiu's body suddenly accelerated its flow rate. It was no longer the gentle nourishment as before, but with an irresistible force, it flowed into Yun Xiu's body along the meridians and went straight to the divine core in the heart.
“Hmm…”
Yunxiu, who was in a coma, suddenly let out a very light groan, his brows furrowed even tighter, his pale lips pressed into a straight line, and even his hands at his sides were unconsciously clenched, his knuckles turning a faint bluish-white.
The divine light in her heart suddenly became dazzlingly bright, and the cold white light shone through her clothes, like a small flame burning, and even the air around her became hot.
The divine power that had originally calmed down suddenly became agitated, rushing rapidly along her spiritual veins, causing the rock wall to tremble slightly, as if it would break through her body at any time.
Gao's movements suddenly stopped.
The blade of light that was about to pierce Yan Xiu's throat froze in mid-air.
He could clearly feel that the divine energy in Yunxiu's body and his own soul were tied together by the same thread. The forcibly stimulated fluctuations of the divine energy were like a blunt knife, scraping his already fragile soul inch by inch, causing even the source of his life to twitch slightly.
Gao actually felt the fear that was about to dissipate. The pain was more direct and piercing than the pain he had felt when his soul collapsed ten thousand years ago.
"Why……"
The sudden threat completely disrupted his plans.
He had always believed that Yunxiu was the "condensation of divine power" and a tool for completing his soul... But why...
Yan Xiu slowly released Yunxiu's pulse and gently brushed her furrowed brows with his fingertips.
He raised his eyes to look at Gao, there was no ripple in his dark eyes, only an almost cold calmness.
"So I kindly advise you not to act rashly towards Xiao You. Do you think that if something happens to her, you will be able to survive?"
"Yan Xiu, what kind of trick is this? I've never heard of it..."
Yan Xiu immediately interrupted him: "If you have doubts, you can give it a try."
The feeling just now was like a needle hanging in his heart, and it didn't seem fake. He stared at Yan Xiu.
Seeing that he had calmed down, the other party continued:
"You should understand that she is your only chance to complete your soul, and your only hope for survival. If you harm her, your remaining soul will be shattered. If you truly damage her divine essence, this remaining soul will immediately dissipate in this cave."
"You can't afford the gamble, Gao."
The golden light around Gao gradually faded. He took a half step forward, his clothes brushing against the gravel on the ground, making a slight sound.
He suddenly seemed to have thought of something and asked:
"If her divine essence is connected to mine, will you still be unable to kill me?"
Yan Xiu's eyes were like sharp blades, and Gao showed an expression of "as expected." He floated gently in front of the two of them.
"Then why are you threatening me so much? Actually, what can you do to me? You wouldn't dare actually hurt her, much less destroy her divine essence... That means you can never kill me. As long as I still have this remnant of my soul, as long as my divine essence remains, one day, I'll get the chance..."
"I have a way to kill you."
Yan Xiu interrupted him. He held Yun Xiu's hand again, the spiritual power flowing slowly from his fingertips, seeping into her body through their interlocked fingers, gently soothing the still restless divine power.
Yunxiu's brows gradually relaxed and his breathing returned to normal, but his face was still pale, like a young bamboo wilted by wind and rain.
Gao remained calm and asked confidently, "You're lying. If you really had a solution, you would have done it long ago. Why wait until now?"
"It's not the right time yet."
Yan Xiu raised his eyes, and a hint of sharpness flashed in his dark eyes.
"Xiao You's divine essence is still unstable. If I act rashly, I will inevitably hurt her. But that doesn't mean I will never be able to do anything. Until I find a safe way, you'd better stay still."
Yan Xiu's fingertips gently caressed Yun Xiu's fingertips, his movements carrying an unmistakable meaning:
"Otherwise, I don't mind taking a risk and letting this remnant of your soul completely dissipate."
The sound of dripping water rang out again, flowing down the rock wall, landing on the bluestone slabs, and splashing tiny drops of water.
Gao stood in the golden light, his aquamarine pupils fixed on Yan Xiu, but he did not launch another attack.
He knew that what Yan Xiu said was true.
The golden light gradually became transparent, like mist blown away by the wind, and Gao's figure loomed in the light and mist. He looked at Yan Xiu's clasped hands, which were shimmering with a pale blue light, and finally snorted coldly.
"You'd better not lie to me."
"Why would I lie to you?"
Yan Xiu's voice remained even, "Don't you know best whether I lied to you or not?"
"That's not necessarily true." Gao glanced at the face that looked 70% similar to his own, with a hint of mockery in his eyes.
"Hasn't he been cheated once? He's still traumatized."
As soon as he finished speaking, the golden light around Gao completely dissipated in the shadow of the cave, without even a trace of divine fluctuation left.
Yan Xiu looked down at Yun Xiu, and when he saw that her breathing had become more steady and the divine light in her heart had gradually returned to its soft state, he breathed a sigh of relief.
He did not let go of her hand, and the spiritual power at his fingertips continued to flow slowly, like a warm stream, repairing the damaged spiritual veins in her body bit by bit.
Yunxiu is already showing signs of waking up, it will be soon.
There was a slight sound of wind outside the cave, mixed with the sound of Wu Yi's footsteps walking at the entrance of the cave.
He was still alert to Zhi Huan's movements, occasionally hearing a few very light coughs, which were the old injuries he had suffered from Zhi Huan that had not yet fully healed. Yan Xiu raised his eyes and looked towards the cave entrance. Seeing nothing unusual, he turned his attention back to Yun Xiu.
When Yunxiu regained consciousness, the first thing he felt was the warmth from his palm.
It wasn't the scorching heat of the magma in her dreams, nor the icy cold of the seawater; it was the warmth of a living being, seeping slowly through her fingers into her skin, dispelling the lingering coldness in her limbs. Her eyelashes trembled, and the scene in the cave slowly reflected in her eyes.
"woke up?"
Yan Xiu's voice echoed in her ears. Yun Xiu saw him looking down at her, his dark-colored formal attire still stained with fresh blood, his bandages shredded into strips, yet he still held her hand tightly. The spiritual power at his fingertips flowed slowly through her veins like warm water, soothing the still slightly agitated divine essence within him.
She opened her mouth, but her throat felt like it was blocked by dried herbs, so she couldn't make a complete sound and could only make a very soft response.
The divine energy in my heart was still slightly warm, like holding a small heater in my arms. The pain that was previously forced to be stimulated had faded, leaving only a slight numbness.
"Don't talk yet."
Yan Xiu noticed her movements and immediately raised his hand to hold her shoulder.
"Your divine power is severely overdrawn, and your spiritual veins have not yet been repaired."
Yunxiu managed to speak, his voice hoarse as if it had been rubbed with sandpaper: "Where is the Ancient God?"
Yan Xiu paused and said, "Let's go."
He didn't say much, but just guided his spiritual power towards her heart.
"He won't bother you again for a while."
Yunxiu didn't let go of this question. Perhaps because of her divine power, she could vaguely hear the conversation between the two.
"Brother, did you know that Zhi Huan would come to Yaoxi Mountain?"
Yunxiu stared at Yan Xiu closely and forced himself to sit up.
She was practically exhausted, her entire body aching so much that even sitting up required a will as strong as a rock. But she… couldn't ignore it, couldn't just let it go.
"Brother, were you the one who attacked Brother Yu Wei and Sister Jing Er?"
Yan Xiu suddenly looked towards Yun Xiu.
Yunxiu's heart suddenly sank to the bottom.
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