Chapter 54 Just Friends
Hong Xuzi almost thought he was about to fight his junior disciple.
He had indeed made this preparation, which is why he risked triggering the formation and personally went up Hancang Peak in his true form.
Although Hong Xuzi had anticipated this, he still felt a mix of emotions when he passed through the area covered by the formation without any hindrance.
Hong Xuzi sighed softly, then raised an eyebrow at the empty space beside him and smiled, "I'll just assume this formation is old and broken."
But as I continued upwards, a greater weight was added to my heart.
That old-fashioned junior brother kept warning him not to corrupt his disciple, but in the end he still removed the magic array.
This is the only progenitor of Hancang Peak, and he is his own nephew whom he raised as half a master.
How could we just leave it unattended?
The two stood facing each other, and seeing Qingran gripping Ning Shuang's sword hilt with one hand, Hong Xuzi abandoned his plan to continue idly chatting and going in circles.
He let out a long breath and said, "Perfect timing. It's been a long time since we, uncle and nephew, have had a chance to connect."
He spoke casually, but his entire body tensed up. Although they were senior disciples, Hong Xuzi dared not let his guard down.
But just as Hong Xuzi's aura solidified and his entire energy locked onto Qing Ran, ready to strike, the Frost Condensation in his hand vanished without a trace.
Hong Xuzi was completely caught off guard by Qing Ran's actions?!
Is this Qingran?!
Qingran, who is straightforward and never resorts to underhanded tactics in a fight?
Would he really do something that's no different from a "sneak attack"?!
To be honest, Hongxuzi had a moment of self-reflection, wondering if he had really led his junior disciple astray.
However, he quickly realized that what he had just seen was not a feint. The sudden pallor of the person opposite him made Hongxuzi immediately realize that something was wrong.
Qingran, he...
He broke the sword bond between himself and his natal sword?!
This isn't hard to guess. With cultivation at Qing Ran's level, there aren't many things that could weaken him to this extent in an instant. Qing Ran has always been unwilling to show weakness, so only by forcibly tearing his soul apart and severing his natal sword, which was like half of his body, could he be unable to hold on and show such a wretched state.
"you……"
Hong Xuzi managed to utter just one word, but his throat felt blocked, and he couldn't say anything more; even his thoughts were running slow.
The sword contract has been dissolved. Was it just the sword contract?
That soul contract...
Hongxuzi wanted to ask, but he felt that asking the question would be like tearing open a person's wound and stirring it up again, which was extremely cruel and bloody.
The person opposite seemed exhausted and sat down again, closing their eyes to rest.
Hong Xuzi remained frozen for a long while before finally saying with difficulty, "Why do you have to do this?"
Regarding the soul contract, although he had been trying to persuade Qingran for the past few days, he never expected to change her mind with just a few words. Hong Xuzi knew all too well how stubborn his junior nephew was. If persuasion were possible, he wouldn't have gone so far as to seal the demonic dragon alone back then.
But this time he changed his mind so "easily" that Hongxuzi didn't think it was because of his words.
If he truly possessed such ability, he wouldn't have stood by and watched his junior disciple fall into this state ten thousand years ago.
It's nothing more than "giving up, not giving up, and receiving".
Ultimately, he couldn't bear to let that person walk down the same deadly path with him.
Looking at Qingran's appearance, Hongxuzi sighed, whether in despair or despondency, and murmured again, "Why are you so resolute?"
The question went unanswered; the person on the other end remained as indifferent as frost and snow, showing not a single extra expression.
Hong Xuzi couldn't help but smile wryly; this was always Qing Ran's style.
Leave yourself no room for maneuver.
He had already told the other party that someone else would find a way to break the contract, but he chose the most drastic one, even severing his natal sword... Not to mention that Qing Ran couldn't last much longer, even if his soul was intact at this moment, he probably wouldn't have much time left after this ordeal.
He had no way out, nor did he need one.
—I want to go with that person.
This was probably the only selfish thought this seemingly unambitious junior disciple ever had.
Hong Xuzi suddenly felt somewhat bewildered. Was his advice over the past few days really correct?
Where has Ning Shuang gone, and to whom has she chosen a new master?
This is related to the stability of the seal, something Hongxuzi should be concerned about.
But he was suddenly exhausted and didn't want to care about anything or pay attention to anything.
In the end, tens of thousands of years have already passed.
The cultivation world produces geniuses generation after generation; there's no reason to place all the blame on an old guy from ten thousand years ago.
Hong Xuzi glanced deeply at his silent nephew across from him, and sighed that it was ultimately a tragic fate.
(A system that's currently crying its eyes out to its host in the mental realm because it messed things up?)
Ren Yi hesitated when he reached out to touch Ning Shuang. He wasn't sure if he could communicate with her while wearing a large disguise.
But it turns out that the sword spirit is much more sensitive to the soul than humans (or perhaps Ren Yi's sealing technique was too poor). As soon as Ren Yi's finger touched it, Ning Shuang's sword hummed and responded immediately.
[He...killed...]
The sword spirit's mind was immature to begin with, and it had hardly ever spoken. At this moment, its communication with Ren Yi consisted of only fragmented and meaningless single words.
But the communication between souls is quite mysterious, and Ren Yi managed to understand its meaning from the fragmented words "凝霜".
In short, when Ren Yi used his alternate account as a Sword Master to instruct the Chosen One last time, Ning Shuang sensed hostility from the latter. At that time, although Ning Shuang wondered why her master hadn't killed such a weak opponent after so long, as a sword spirit, Ning Shuang unconditionally supported her master's actions and didn't voice her opinion. However, this time, after breaking the sword contract, she sensed a familiar aura and, with the intention of eliminating future troubles, immediately stabbed him. Only after stabbing him did she realize that this was the new master she had been searching for.
Ren Yi was speechless after hearing this.
Before marveling at his sword spirit's extraordinary agility, Ren Yi faced another problem: Ning Shuang was unwilling to acknowledge Xiao Hanzhou as her master.
Although Ren Yi could forcefully command the other party, the situation was not yet at that point. The relatively simple sword spirit was actually easy to coax (deceive). Ren Yi made a sword incantation, and the slender longsword was slowly pulled out from Xiao Hanzhou's wound.
Without the sword's obstruction, blood gushed from the wound.
The amount of bleeding made Ren Yi's eyes twitch. It was fortunate that this was a cultivation world; if it were a different world, even if Xiao Hanzhou was the chosen one, he definitely wouldn't have survived. However, for a cultivator, although the injury was severe, it wasn't necessarily fatal. Ren Yi's eyelids twitched twice before he looked away.
The blood-stained longsword fell into his hand. Ren Yi stood up and placed the sword precisely at Xiao Hanzhou's neck.
Ren Yi's movements were not fast. Throughout the process, Xiao Hanzhou had countless opportunities to dodge or resist, but he seemed to be frozen and did not move at all.
Ren Yizheng used the simplest and most direct method to prove that Xiao Hanzhou had no hostility towards him.
Moreover, he had every reason to turn against Xiao Hanzhou now. In the past that the Mirror of Cause and Effect had just reconstructed, (according to Bai Jinliu) Xiao Hanzhou was planning to deceive people into marriage in order to obtain their spiritual roots.
Although he felt bad for wrongly accusing the chosen one, Ren Yi really didn't want to cause any more trouble at the moment; he just wanted to finish the job quickly.
As for what happens after that, let the chosen one and his true love have their own torturous and passionate love story.
Let's leave him alone, he's just a tool!
Moreover, as long as he suffers such a small injustice, he can obtain the peerless divine weapon Ning Shuang. No matter how you look at it, Xiao Hanzhou thinks it's a good deal!
Ren Yi was using a larger alias at this moment, but in the eyes of the sword spirit, there was no difference between the larger and smaller aliases. In addition, Xiao Hanzhou's guilt made him not resist at all, let alone show any hostility, even when the sword was held to his neck. Ren Yi easily persuaded Ning Shuang.
But in just a moment, Ren Yi realized something was wrong.
Xiao Hanzhou's injury was located in his heart meridian, a wound that even cultivators had to handle with great care. However, after so long, Xiao Hanzhou did not attempt to seal the acupoints, but instead allowed the blood to flow freely from the wound.
Ren Yi quickly noticed that the blood gushing from his body, along with the blood that had flowed out earlier, did not congeal but instead flowed along the patterns on the ground.
Texture?!
Ren Yi glanced down and suddenly realized it was a formation!
Ren Yi didn't even have time to examine the formation's effects closely before retreating. It was obvious to anyone with a brain that the formation wouldn't be of any good use!
Xiao Hanzhou suddenly reached out.
He wanted to grab Ren Yi's wrist, but Ren Yi retreated too quickly, or perhaps because Xiao Hanzhou was too weak at the moment and his movements were much slower than usual, his hand ended up on Ning Shuang's sword.
Blood oozed from his palm, meandering and wetting his wrist, then dripping down his forearm and into the blood-formed array below.
But the owner of the hand didn't care at all, still holding the weapon tightly, his gaze fixed on Ren Yi without moving.
He pleaded, "A-Yi, let's become Daoist partners."
Ren Yi?
You call this forming a Daoist partnership?! Even forced marriage doesn't go this far! This is outright robbery!!
Perhaps because the disbelief on Ren Yi's face was too obvious, Xiao Hanzhou showed a momentary look of pain, but the pain had lasted too long and was enough to numb him.
His voice was low and hoarse as he explained his intentions with difficulty, "It's not really about forming a Daoist partnership, but merely a way to sever the soul bond. After I... am completely destroyed, A-Yi... you will still be free..."
Ren Yi didn't actually listen to what he said after that.
After a brief conversation with Ning Shuang, Ren Yi simply let go of the sword hilt.
Thankfully, the sword spirit is not human; it judges whether someone is hostile based solely on killing intent.
If it were a normal person, given the current state of this "bloody scene," Ren Yi would never be able to explain it as "Xiao Hanzhou harboring no hostility towards him."
Upon noticing Ren Yi's actions, Xiao Hanzhou hurriedly tried to stop him, but his excessive blood loss and injuries made his attempts to stop him easily thwarted.
"Ah Yi!!"
His voice was piercingly desperate, "Live! I just want you to live! Please!!"
Ren Yi did pause for a moment; even he hadn't expected to hear the word "beg" from Xiao Hanzhou's mouth.
However, the formation that was about to take shape beneath his feet instantly calmed him down. After realizing the meaning behind the other party's words, Ren Yi broke out in a cold sweat.
Not only did he continue to retreat, he retreated even faster.
If the Chosen One truly wants to keep the mission takers in the small world, there is a possibility of success!
With the blood and tears of his predecessors who were locked in the dark room back then as evidence, Ren Yi didn't want to experience it again, especially since he couldn't contact the Transmigration Bureau and didn't even have a chance to ask for help.
Ren Yizhen - Crisis!!!
However, just as Ren Yi was about to step out of the formation, an instinctive sense of danger made him retreat sharply, falling back into the formation's range. Almost simultaneously, a blade of light left a deep mark beneath his feet.
The person who made the move was someone Ren Yiquan hadn't expected. He looked up in surprise at the person slowly approaching, "...Brother Yan?"
The one who made the move was Yan Shuoyun.
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