Chapter 1006: It’s not time to go back ye (2/2)

Looking at the shut doors of the True Love store, Han Yunxi sighed. At last, this was all over. She told Long Feiye, “Let’s go, we still have business to take care of!”

Back at the inn, Han Yunxi immediately retrieved the Qi Sha dagger as well as Perplexing Butterfly Illusion. Just like the last few times with the other Ten-Thousand poisons, the Qi Sha dagger began gradually eroding away as soon as a drop of Perplexing Butterfly Illusion hit its surface. There was a series of sizzling, popping noises while white smoke rose from the metal. Once it dispersed, the long dagger was reduced to a tiny scarlet teardrop. If this was the past, Han Yunxi would try mixing it with other poison teardrops to see what would happen. But now she simply swept the newest teardrop into its own bottle and stored it away. After finding out the secrets of the Perplexing Butterfly Illusion, she didn’t need to experiment as much for the answers.

Currently, they possessed the Water, Earth, Wood, and Metal of Ten-Thousand Poisons as well as Corpse Blood and Beauty’s Blood. All they needed was Fire of Ten-Thousand Poisons, Poison Gu blood, and poison beast blood. The latter two were both with Bai Yanqing, so their next step was to search for Fire of Ten-Thousand Poisons!

Their trip to Qingzhou Water City this time went smoother than expected. Although they feared things would be delayed until next year, it only took around 10 days to wrap things up. Seeing Han Yunxi store the poisons back in her storage space, Long Feiye and Gu Qishao finally felt at ease. It looked like everything was well and truly over.

Long Feiye arched his brow at Gu Qishao next and said, “Want to try slashing a sword a few times?”

“What?” Gu Qishao feigned ignorance, causing Long Feiye’s gaze to turn chilly.

Helpless, Gu Qishao did as request. Who told him to leave a secret in Long Feiye’s hands? Most likely the man had already guessed the truth behind his “fireproof” vines and why he could absorb the Moye sword spirit without harm. Han Yunxi was still clueless about it all, so she was curious to see how the spirit would affect Gu Qishao’s sword skills.

Gu Qishao headed into the courtyard and picked up a long sword, but he’d hardly wielded it when Long Feiye and Han Yunxi saw a faint white shadow glowing off the blade’s surface.

“What’s that?” Han Yunxi asked.

Without a word, Long Feiye punched at the air and broke Gu Qishao’s sword to pieces. Immediately, Han Yunxi saw the white shadow clearly--it was a sword of its own, formless and immaterial!

“Is that the sword spirit?” Han Yunxi asked.

“Mhm,” Long Feiye confirmed.

Gu Qishao simply cast away the broken sword and ended up wielding the white shadow to slash around the courtyard. Although it lacked its own body, it possessed a sword qi as tangible as the first sword. Moreover, it cut through iron as if it were mud and quickly disposed of a tree in the courtyard within two to three strikes. Han Yunxi only found it unfathomable. If they ever found a treasure sword capable of housing this sword spirit, how much more powerful the Moye sword be!

When Gu Qishao moved to withdraw his sword, the shadow instantly vanished from sight. He walked towards Han Yunxi and grinned. “Poison lass, wait until I find an actual sword. Then I’ll give Moye to you!”

Before Han Yunxi could answer, Long Feiye cut in coldly, “Moye can be entrusted with you instead.”

Gu Qishao had pretended to play hostage just so he could gain the Moye sword spirit and gift it to Han Yunxi as a present. How could Long Feiye not tell?

“No way, no way, that thing’s too strange. I don’t like it!” Han Yunxi refused as well. “Gu Qishao, if anything like this happens again, please don’t act independently, alright?”

“Alright!” Gu Qishao easily agreed. He knew Han Yunxi was worrying for his sake, so he didn’t defend himself.

After I get the right sword, I’ll find another excuse to give it to her. Maybe she’ll want it then. He had no idea that Long Feiye was already setting his sights on the Ganjiang treasure sword currently residing atop Celestial Mountain.

Ganjiang and Moye were traditionally a pair.

Truthfully speaking, Han Yunxi wasn’t much interested in swords at all. She suggested, “Let’s rest a day before heading back to Three-Way Black Market?”

It would almost be a month since they headed south, and it would take half a month more of travel to go back. Yesterday, Long Feiye had just received Gu Beiyue’s secret missive. Everything was going well between Myriad Merchant and East Origin Hall, while things were still peaceful at the Tiger’s Prison too. Bai Yuqiao was doing her best to take care of Ning Jing and the rest. Meanwhile, full war had broken out in Northern Li.

As Jun Yixie headed north, so did Northern Li’s forces scattered in the south. Moreover, Jun Yixie had already arranged with Wintercrow Country to send their third shipment of horses down to meet with the cavalrymen mid-way. By Gu Beiyue’s estimation, it would take another half month before the third round of battle horses joined the fray. The cavalrymen going to join them would travel west to east and combine with Jun Yixie’s southern forces to surround the Northern Li emperor.

Although things were progressing faster than expected, everything was still within Long Feiye’s control. Jun Yixie and the Northern Li emperor were currently evenly matched in strength. Naturally, the emperor wasn’t so easily bested and had divided his forces to defend certain points while concentrating his best troops on dealing with Jun Yixie.

Yesterday, Long Feiye had also received news from Consort Xiao, his agent in the Northern Li court, about many of the battle details. Ning Jing’s report via Bai Yuqiao, Gu Beiyue’s analysis, and Consort Xiao’s updates all more or less matched. Over the next two months, Jun Yixie and the Northern Li emperor would showcase all of their forces. According to Long Feiye’s calculations, the twelfth month of the lunar year would be the time when hostilities came to a head. Right now, the heated battles within the country could only be counted as small skirmishes at best.

It would take until next spring for both sides to be heavily affected by their losses. Thus, even if they headed back now, they had no way to rescue Ning Jing, Mu Linger, and the rest. As soon as they acted, the suspicious Jun Yixie would start doubting the situation--or at least, suspect Ning Cheng. That would place Ning Cheng in danger!

Long Feiye said, “There’s still two months left, so we won’t go back. Let’s go track down the Fire of Ten-Thousand Poisons!”