Beneath the tree, a man dressed in purple brocade robes was reclining on his side, holding a fishing rod in a leisurely and elegant posture. Yusang lightly leaped up and flew down to land beneath the tree. Before she could speak, Zi Feng first made a gesture for silence, suppressing the words she was about to utter.

Yusang followed Zi Feng’s gaze and saw a red fish in the water, swimming around the fishing hook dangling in the water, seemingly about to take the bait.

“You’ve come to ask me to treat that mortal’s illness, haven’t you?” Zi Feng asked lazily, his gaze fixed on the fish underwater without looking at Yusang.

“Huayi said that in this world, perhaps only you can cure him.”

“Huayi? She left Taiye Island for the mortal realm back then, and now you’re the same, insisting on walking in the mortal world. Is it that I can’t keep you here, or am I truly so detestable to you all?” Zi Feng turned his head slightly and looked Yusang up and down with raised eyelids.

“Zi Feng, I consider you both a friend and family. This has nothing to do with Yan Qige or the mortal realm.”

“Then what about compared to Bai Zhi? If I forced you to choose between him and me, how would you choose? Whom would you trust?”

“You and Bai Zhi are equally important to me.”

“How perfunctory.” Zi Feng snorted coldly and waved his sleeve, turning his head away to ignore Yusang.

“I don’t know why you and Bai Zhi have this grudge, but you are brothers after all. Why must you…”

…

“It’s not your place to lecture me.” Zi Feng interrupted Yusang’s words, threw down the fishing rod in his hand, and stood up. After glaring at Yusang, he said, “I can save Yan Qige, but you need to pay a price.”

“What price?”

“Give me the soul artifacts you’ve collected, and never again seek revenge.”

Yusang looked at Zi Feng with wide, surprised eyes. After a long while, she said, “Zi Feng, you know how hard I’ve worked to get this far. How can you make such a demand?”

“Your clan members and your father and mother used everything they had to keep you alive so that you would live well. Your life carries the blood, sweat, and hopes of so many people, yet you’ve been tormenting yourself over events from thousands of years ago, stubbornly obsessed. The Fengjian Clan has been destroyed for thousands of years. Destroyed means destroyed. Even if you revive the divine tree and open the Underworld Crossing Gate, even if you find the person who annihilated your clan and kill him, what then? You can’t change anything. You’ll only sink deeper and deeper, becoming less and less yourself.”

“Precisely because my life carries so much blood, sweat, and responsibility, I must find the answer,” Yusang responded loudly, her teeth aching slightly.

“You will regret this.”

“If you won’t save him, then don’t. Pretend I never came.” Yusang angrily turned to leave, but was caught by Zi Feng’s grip on her shoulder.

“Want to leave? It’s not that easy. I indulged you before, but this time I won’t comply.”

Fighting with Zi Feng was something Yusang had never imagined. After several moves, Yusang showed signs of defeat. Unable to dodge one attack in time, her shoulder was struck by Zi Feng’s palm, and she fell beneath the tree. Something dropped from behind her.

Zi Feng was startled. Yusang turned her head and saw it was the brocade box that Helian Yu had given her before parting. Yusang reached out to pick it up, but Zi Feng snatched it up first.

“How is this in your possession?”

Yusang didn’t understand why Zi Feng was suddenly so tense. She frowned and said, “Helian Yu gave it to me.”

“What else did she say?” Zi Feng showed unprecedented nervousness, reaching out to grip Yusang’s shoulder.

Yusang’s shoulder was painfully squeezed by Zi Feng, her brows knitting together as she said, “Nothing… nothing else.”

Hearing Yusang say this, Zi Feng seemed to relax somewhat, but then his eyes showed strange worry and wariness. He reached toward Yusang’s waist to take her cosmos pouch, but a phantom blade accompanied by blinding light came to stop him. To dodge, Zi Feng had to release Yusang’s shoulder. When he steadied himself again, Yusang had already been pulled back several meters away.

Yusang steadied herself and discovered Yan Qige standing beside her. His face was pale as paper, but his eyes stared intently at Zi Feng across from them, full of wariness.

“Helian Yu once told me that this fan was gifted by that expert, imbued with spiritual power to help her feign death convincingly. She was supposed to give it to me, but I had her give it to you instead. To be able to calculate Yusang’s every move with such precision, if he were truly familiar with her, seeing her obtain this fan would certainly make him nervous. Now it seems it has found its master. You are the one who also wants the soul artifacts and has been secretly tracking us.”

Yusang frowned at Yan Qige in disbelief, then turned to look at Zi Feng, hoping he would deny and refute this. But after waiting a long time, Zi Feng remained silent, holding the folding fan without speaking.

Yan Qige looked at Yusang and said, “Don’t you understand now? From the beginning, he lured you to Helian Fortress, designed you to fall into a trap, then put on an act with the Helian siblings to deceive you. If I hadn’t brought you back to find Helian Yu, that soul artifact would probably be in his hands right now. As long as he has this one soul artifact, even if you find all the others, it would be useless.”

Yusang shook her head and looked at Zi Feng across from them, saying, “I don’t believe it. Zi Feng, tell me this isn’t true. You wouldn’t scheme against me like this.”

Zi Feng looked at Yusang, opened his mouth, but didn’t speak.

“We’re leaving this place.” Yan Qige pulled Yusang and turned around. Just as they were about to leave, a surge of spiritual power attacked from behind. Yan Qige, who had been prepared, pushed Yusang behind him and turned to counterattack. Using his toes to push off the ground, he retreated to stand on the water surface. Zi Feng was also struck back to stand on the waves several zhang away.

Zi Feng had thought Yan Qige was weak and would be easily defeated, but upon exchanging blows, he discovered that Yan Qige’s cultivation was not lacking at all. He couldn’t help but feel secretly astonished and said, “You’re merely a mortal. How could you withstand one of my attacks? This is impossible.”

Yan Qige laughed coldly and raised his hand to wave behind his shoulder. The sword he never showed to others flew out from its soft leather wrapping, drawing a long rainbow across the sky before being grasped by Yan Qige. The rust-covered blade emanated cold energy in all directions. A withered leaf falling from the tree was already frozen into ice crystals before approaching the blade and immediately shattered into several pieces upon hitting the water.

Zi Feng looked at that sword and seemed to understand something. His eyes gradually widened in surprise as he looked at Yan Qige with an expression of disbelief.

“Two thousand years since we last met, Lord Zi Feng. I trust you have been well.” Yan Qige looked at Zi Feng and spoke coldly.

“It’s you. It is you.” Zi Feng looked at Yan Qige in shocked amazement, his hands hanging at his sides, trembling slightly despite himself.

“Back then, you sealed the Azure Dragon Sword. You never imagined you’d see me again today.”

“Azure Dragon Sword?” Upon hearing this, Yusang turned around in surprise, her gaze slowly falling on Yan Qige and the sword in his hands. The bloody scenes she had encountered countless times in dreams seemed to instantly replay before her eyes. A voice in her memory commanded the slaughter of the city in a great hall, and a bone-chillingly cold sword emitted blinding light amid the blood. That sword was the companion sword of the human emperor who had destroyed the Fengjian Clan—the Azure Dragon Sword.

Looking at Yan Qige holding the long sword, Yusang suddenly realized something important and terrifying. She shook her head and retreated, repeatedly saying, “No… impossible… it can’t be you…”