68: Chapter 68 A Thousand Miles to the Rescue, Sword Slaying the Poison Cultivator! The Mysterious Yin Chain Scheme, the Hidden Agent Revealed!

Shen Ji's gaze was pinned to that line of text.

Huo Quji was severely injured, having been intercepted and attacked three hundred miles outside the sect.

He did not hesitate.

He didn't even look down to see if there was any subsequent text on the light screen.

Because in the simulator, "he" had already moved.

[Age 36, November 3rd. Shen Hour.]

[You finished reading the last word of the flying message, your hand already reaching for the jinhong sword.]

[The origin of the flying message is unknown.]

[This is highly likely a linked scheme to lure the snake out of its hole.]

[But you did not pause.]

[Liu Qingqing walked out of the kitchen, saw you fully dressed, and her expression changed.]

["Who?"]

["Huo Quji."]

[Liu Qingqing didn't ask any more questions.]

[She turned and went into the room, took a bottle of Spirit Continuation Pills, and stuffed it into your hand.]

["Come back alive."]

[You nodded, stepped onto your flying magical artifact, and tore through the air.]

[— —]

[Three hundred miles north-northeast of Yunzhou City.]

[With the flying artifact pushed to full speed, it took you less than half an hour.]

[Spiritual energy fluctuations came from the distance, intermingled with two distinct auras: scorching heat and icy chill.]

[They had been fighting for a long time.]

[You judged quickly—the burst frequency of the fire-attributed spiritual energy was decreasing, and the intervals were getting longer.]

[Huo Quji's spiritual energy was drying up.]

[You looked down from high above.]

[On a rocky beach, ten black shadows formed a fan shape, pressing two people against a cliff.]

[Black robes, Xuanyin Valley.]

[In the formation, Huo Quji knelt on one knee, the blood-burning spear propping him up against the ground, the flames on the spear flickering unsteadily.]

[His left arm hung limp, his shoulder armor was shattered, and blood dripped from his fingertips.]

[Behind him, a woman in white stood back-to-back with him, her hands forming seals, three icy blue spiritual energy barriers barely holding up in front of her.]

[The woman was extremely beautiful, her features cold as frost, but her lips were pale, and the ice-attributed barriers were constantly trembling.]

[Ice-attributed spiritual root. Not a low grade.]

[You watched for only three breaths.]

[Enough.]

[The jinhong sword was unsheathed.]

[With the Grade 4 spirit artifact pushed to its full capacity, three golden sword auras burst from the blade.]

[Under the blessing of the Sword Mastery trait, the three sword auras directly sealed off their retreat.]

[The first slashed toward the left flank of the encirclement, the second cleaved toward the outer edge of the right flank, and the third went straight for the pale-faced man leading them.]

[The pale-faced man was the poison cultivator whose shoulder you had pierced with a single sword strike in the secret realm.]

[Sensing the incoming sword aura, he retreated violently.]

[Two black-robed cultivators on the left flank reacted half a beat too slowly.]

[The golden sword aura fell from the sky; one had his right arm severed, while the other's protective spiritual light shattered, and a half-foot-long gash was torn across his chest.]

[The encirclement was broken.]

[You dropped from the high altitude, activated your movement technique trait, and the moment you landed, you turned into an afterimage, cutting horizontally into the formation.]

[The jinhong sword went straight for the vitals.]

[One sword strike, horizontally slashing the throat of the man with the severed arm.]

[The second strike, a follow-up thrust, pierced through the heart meridian of the man with the chest injury.]

[Two lives, in no more than two breaths.]

["Shen—Brother Shen?!"]

[Huo Quji looked up, a grinning smile appearing beneath his blood-stained face.]

[You ignored him and turned to face the remaining eight people.]

[The pale-faced poison cultivator stood at the very back, staring at you, his pupils constricting.]

["It's you again."]

[You stood in front of Huo Quji, the jinhong sword held horizontally before your chest.]

["I let you run last time in the secret realm. If you want to leave this time, ask my sword if it agrees."]

[The pale-faced man gritted his teeth.]

[He raised his hand, and green poisonous mist rose simultaneously from beneath the eight people's feet.]

[The corrosive spiritual energy unique to the Xuanyin techniques spread through the air.]

[Huo Quji forced himself to stand up, the tip of the blood-burning spear flicking toward the sky, the remaining fire-attributed spiritual energy barely igniting.]

["Brother Shen, you take the left, I'll burn the center."]

["How much spiritual energy do you have left?"]

["Enough to burn for three strikes."]

["Then save it, two strikes are enough."]

[You shifted your footing and cut into the left flank.]

[The jinhong sword trailed a series of golden arcs, water-attributed spiritual energy clinging to the blade; every strike hit precisely where the poisonous mist was thinnest.]

[Water overcomes poison; this is a natural suppression in terms of spiritual energy attributes.]

[The three black-robed cultivators on the left flank were forced back by the sword aura, and their formation scattered.]

[Huo Quji roared from behind, the blood-burning spear sweeping horizontally, the flames wrapping around the spear tip to burn a huge gap in the poisonous mist in front.]

[The woman in white followed at his side, pushing her palms out; the icy blue spiritual energy transformed into dozens of ice cones that shot into the gap.]

[Fire and ice covered the area alternately, and the poisonous mist was stripped away layer by layer.]

[The pale-faced man gritted his teeth and retreated violently.]

[He looked around—two of the eight had already been lost, and the remaining six were being attacked from three sides, their formation completely broken.]

["Retreat!"]

[He formed a black seal with his hands, and thick yin energy surged from the soil beneath his feet.]

[Xuanyin Evasion Technique.]

[The six black shadows instantly sank into the ground, fleeing in all directions.]

[You pointed the jinhong sword at the ground, channeling spiritual energy—but the evasion technique had already taken form, and the yin energy underground obscured your tracking of their auras.]

[You couldn't catch up.]

[You sheathed your sword and did not pursue further.]

[Extremely subtle water-attributed spiritual energy had already seeped through the cracks in the soil, infiltrating the yin energy with which the pale-faced man had fled.]

[Huo Quji stabbed the tip of the spear into the ground, his whole body leaning against the shaft as he panted.]

["They sure run fast."]

[You turned to look at him.]

[His left arm was dislocated, he had at least four poison wounds on his body, and his lips were turning black.]

[You fished a bottle of Detoxification Pills from your storage bag and tossed it over.]

["Eat this first. Wait until the poison is cleared before taking the Spirit Continuation Pills."]

[The woman in white took the medicine bottle and fed one to Huo Quji.]

[She turned around and bowed to you.]

["Thank you, Senior, for saving us. I am Gu Yunxi, a disciple of the Ice Heart Hall of the Tianxuan Sect."]

[Senior.]

[Thirty-six years old, Foundation Establishment Level 1. Being called Senior is normal.]

[But it felt like something wasn't quite right.]

["Just call him Brother Shen," Huo Quji waved his hand. "We're our own people, don't bother with that superficial stuff."]

[Gu Yunxi paused for a moment, glanced at Huo Quji, and changed her address: "Big Brother Shen."]

[— —]

[Qiyun Inn.]

[A wilderness post station twenty miles from the rocky beach, a three-story wooden building, specifically for passing rogue cultivators to rest.]

[You booked the entire third floor, and had the innkeeper prepare hot water, golden trauma medicine, and a table of wine and food.]

[Huo Quji's poison was mostly cleared, and his left arm had been set back, but he still couldn't move it.]

[He held the bowl in his right hand and chugged the wine, completely lacking the self-awareness of a wounded patient.]

[You sat opposite him and poured yourself a bowl.]

["Tell me, how did you get surrounded?"]

[Huo Quji swallowed a mouthful of wine.]

["The sect sent me and Yunxi to clear out an evil cultivator stronghold in the South Mountain Hollow—a small job, a dozen or so trash at the Qi Refining stage."]

["After we cleared it, we were heading back when we ran into this bunch from Xuanyin Valley halfway. Ten people; it was obvious they had been watching us for a long time."]

["The evil cultivators... were bait?" you asked.]

["Eighty percent likely."]

[Gu Yunxi sat nearby holding a teacup and added in a low voice: "When that group of evil cultivators resisted, they deliberately fled deep into the South Mountain Hollow, delaying us for half a day."]

["By the time we finished clearing them out and came out, the people from Xuanyin Valley had already set up an array on the only path we could take."]

[You nodded.]

[The method was very experienced; tracking, baiting, and hunting, all done in one go.]

["Who sent the flying message?" you asked.]

[Huo Quji shook his head. "Not me. When I was surrounded, my communication talismans were all shattered; I couldn't send anything out at all."]

[Gu Yunxi also shook her head. "I did send one communication talisman, but it was toward the sect."]

[That urgent flying message claimed to be from the Tianxuan Sect.]

[But Huo Quji didn't send it, and the people from the sect couldn't possibly have contacted you in the first instance.]

[Who sent the message for you?]

[You noted this point of doubt and did not speak it aloud.]

[Huo Quji drank to the third bowl, and he started talking more.]

["Brother Shen, seriously, how did you get here so fast? Three hundred miles, what grade is your flying magical artifact?"]

["Grade 3. Half an hour at full speed."]

["Awesome." He gave a thumbs up. "I almost thought I wouldn't hold out until reinforcements arrived."]

["Didn't you have Miss Gu helping you?"]

[Huo Quji's hand holding the bowl stiffened.]

[Gu Yunxi's teacup paused at her lips.]

["Brother Shen, what are you saying?" Huo Quji cleared his throat. "Fellow disciples, just normal partners executing a mission."]

[You looked at him.]

["Since when does Fire Cloud Hall handle small jobs like clearing out evil cultivators? Your hall specializes in combat missions; you don't take clearing jobs."]

[Huo Quji stopped talking.]

[You glanced at Gu Yunxi again.]

["It is also rare for disciples of the Ice Heart Hall to go on missions alone; they are usually assigned guards. Where is the guard this time?"]

[Gu Yunxi put down her teacup and lowered her eyelids to avoid your gaze.]

["The guard was replaced... replaced by Senior Brother Huo."]

[You picked up your wine bowl.]

["So, Brother Huo, you deliberately snatched someone else's job just to spend more time with the girl?"]

[Huo Quji slapped the table.]

["Brother Shen, can you not, in front of her—"]

["I'm going to rest." Gu Yunxi stood up, lowered her head, and walked quickly toward the room next door; the sound of the door closing was crisp and decisive.]

[Huo Quji glared at you.]

[You drank a mouthful of wine. "Your opening move, not very good."]

["...Shut up."]

[— —]

[Qiyun Inn. Zi Hour.]

[You leaned against the window, closing your eyes to regulate your breathing.]

[A sound of heavy objects smashing against the door suddenly came from downstairs.]

[The innkeeper's scream came through the wooden floorboards.]

[You opened your eyes.]

[You spread your spiritual sense.]

[Seven people surged into the lobby on the first floor.]

[The leader was a burly man with a shaved head, with a cultivation base at the peak of Qi Refining Level 9.]

[Hanging at his waist was a copper plaque—the mark of the Yunzhou City Rogue Cultivator Alliance.]

["You surnamed Huo! Come out!"]

[The bald man raised his foot and kicked over a table.]

["You killed my brother; today, we'll settle this account, principal and interest together!"]

Shen Ji's fingers paused in mid-air.

Rogue Cultivator Alliance?

He frowned slightly.

The text on the light screen continued to jump—

[Huo Quji pushed open his door and walked out.]

[He carried the blood-burning spear, his left arm still in a sling, his expression as calm as if he were queuing in a cafeteria.]

["Which one is your brother?"]

["Among that batch of evil cultivators in the South Mountain Hollow, the third one, Luo Yi, is my own brother!"]

[Huo Quji looked back at you.]

[You leaned against the doorframe, your hand resting on the hilt of the jinhong sword.]

[You had already scanned the cultivation bases of the group below—one at the peak of Qi Refining Level 9, three at Qi Refining Level 8, and three at Qi Refining Level 7.]

[The seven of them added together were not enough for you to clear alone.]

[But the problem wasn't whether you could beat them.]

[The problem was—the timing of this "own brother" appearing was too coincidental.]

[The moment Xuanyin Valley retreated, someone followed the tracks and showed up on the doorstep.]

[You looked back at the tightly closed door at the end of the corridor. Gu Yunxi was still inside.]

[Then you looked down at the seven people in the lobby on the first floor.]

[The third person behind the burly bald man—on the inside of his left cuff, a section of dark green markings was exposed.]

[That was not a tattoo.]

[That was the secret code used by Xuanyin Valley cultivators to mark their fellow disciples with poisonous corrosion spiritual patterns.]