The numerous white-robed female attendants fearlessly lunged toward Bi Lianyi in the crowd. He Yan’er and Tie Jing drew their swords together, blocking at the front. Among the white-robed women, one wielded a whip. With a crack, the long whip struck like lightning, coiling toward Bi Lianyi in the crowd.
Cheng Yunpao was about to swing his sword when he suddenly turned around—another shadow flashed in the forest. This time someone threw an object from the distant woods. Zheng Yue was about to strike that thing with his palm when Cheng Yunpao’s thoughts raced and he shouted, “Stop!” Wanyu Yuedan simultaneously cried out, “You mustn’t!”
But Zheng Yue’s splitting palm force had already been released. The object shattered on impact. Everyone watched helplessly as the thing broke apart, a spray of poison water exploded with it, scattering across the sky.
Bai Suche suddenly turned around. Someone in the forest simultaneously used splitting palm force, pushing that poison water toward the Central Plains Sword Society crowd.
Cheng Yunpao had no choice but to throw his sword a second time. Unable to worry about intercepting the white-robed woman’s long whip, he spread both sleeves, gathering his lifetime’s power to push the poison water raining from the sky outward.
His power was profound. This lift and push raised tremendous air currents. Meng Qinglei followed closely behind, then used his palms.
In an instant, everyone from the Central Plains Sword Society who could act in time used splitting palm force, holding up that poison water, then pushing it toward the forest.
But palm force varied in strength. That spray of poison water paused in the air, then finally scattered down gracefully. Meeting palm force like Cheng Yunpao’s, it was forcibly pushed away, but encountering juniors like Zheng Yue and Qi Xing, the poison water found gaps, mixed within the crevices of palm force, tilting at the edges of strong and weak palm winds.
With an “Oh no!” cry, a drop of poison water splashed onto Zheng Yue’s shoulder. He felt a coolness on his body as a sword wind swept across his shoulder—Tie Jing’s sword cut away both clothing and poison together in time. Zheng Yue, not caring that his clothes had a large hole, called out, “Thanks!”
Tie Jing nodded and smiled. Regardless of whatever conflicts the Central Plains Sword Society people had before, now they shared common hatred for the enemy.
In an instant, palm winds surged like tides, raising huge waves in the forest. Bai Suche saw Wang Lingqiu’s deadly poison pause in the air, then get repelled by everyone’s palm winds, splashing back into the forest. Her thoughts turned—she suddenly grabbed a white-robed female attendant beside her and threw her at Cheng Yunpao.
Cheng Yunpao’s long sword had already left his hand, and he had just exhausted all his true qi repelling that poison water. Suddenly seeing a white-robed woman flying through the air, he was also stunned. Before he could understand what was happening, Bai Suche pushed the whip-wielding white-robed woman toward Wanyu Yuedan’s side.
That whip-wielding woman had just caught Cheng Yunpao’s sword, holding the whip in her right hand and sword in her left. Suddenly pushed aside by Bai Suche, she instinctively turned around, leaping into the air, trying to escape Bai Suche’s palm force. Though her mind was unclear, she still obeyed Bai Suche and didn’t attack.
But as this woman leaped into the air, Tie Jing and He Yan’er became extremely nervous. Wanyu Yuedan knew no martial arts—if this woman’s whip came over, how could Wanyu Yuedan withstand it?
In this chaos, Bai Suche let out a shout and suddenly struck. She threw those white-robed women one by one at the Central Plains Sword Society members who had just withdrawn their palms. In the air, shadows flickered—flying figures everywhere.
Miss Hong’s vision blurred. She saw a pale white hand break through the encirclement, sweep past her eyes, and grab Bi Lianyi’s wrist. Before she could blink, she had already pressed the hidden weapon in her sleeve. The weapon shot out, hitting the person’s right shoulder completely. But that person didn’t care at all, still gripping Bi Lianyi tightly. Bi Lianyi was poisoned and powerless to resist. In this brief instant, he was forcibly dragged away by that hand.
Cheng Yunpao and the others all changed color, but in this single instant, even if they were determined to kill the flying white-robed women on the spot, it was too late. Bai Suche alone grabbed Bi Lianyi and retreated toward the forest.
Someone in that forest threw out several porcelain bottles, blocking the Central Plains Sword Society’s pursuit path.
Everyone had clearly seen Bai Suche slash at that bald old man with her blade, yet ultimately it was the poison-using bald old man who covered Bai Suche’s retreat. The two cooperated fully, together abducting Bi Lianyi while abandoning all those white-robed female attendants.
What was Fengliu Shop doing?
“Brother Bi!”
“Brother Bi!”
The Central Plains Sword Society people cried out in alarm. Miss Hong broke free from Meng Qinglei’s restraint and ran to the forest’s edge. She stared at those bottles of poison water covering the retreat at the forest’s front, biting her lip deeply.
After a while, she slowly raised her head, looking toward Wanyu Yuedan. “Palace Master Wanyu, that mountain-splitting path—how are the preparations?”
Wanyu Yuedan couldn’t see where Bi Lianyi had been taken. He stood in place, only hearing the sounds of several people departing from the opposite forest. Wind blew through the leaves with rustling sounds, obscuring footsteps. He listened as several people went farther and farther away, his delicate face showing increasingly strange expressions.
“The mountain-splitting path is ready.” Wanyu Yuedan said gently. “At this very moment… we can split the mountain.” He turned around, his tone light and ethereal, as if effortless. “As long as Miss Hong has blades at hand, for Biluo Palace to split mountains and cleave stone—what difficulty is that?”
Miss Hong’s face showed no expression. She picked up a bottle of poison water from the ground. Unafraid that the poison water was incurable, she opened the stopper and shook it, taking a look. “This isn’t ‘Northern Cold Drink.'”
The real “Northern Cold Drink” she had just seen on Bi Lianyi’s body. Besides the blue coloring, it also carried a faint fishy smell. The poison water in this bottle actually carried a floral fragrance—definitely not “Northern Cold Drink.”
Cheng Yunpao also crouched down and opened a bottle. It was actually a bottle of wine.
The bald old man had thrown these things to block the Central Plains Sword Society’s path, probably because “Northern Cold Drink” was rather rare, not something that could be carelessly scattered. This was also good news. Miss Hong gently sprinkled that strange medicinal water with floral fragrance before the forest, saying in a low voice, “Hero Cheng, Young Hero Gu, Young Master Zheng, Hero Meng, Young Hero Xu… Fengliu Shop goes too far, insulting our comrades. Since they dare to lead crowds to abduct people, I also dare to repay tooth for tooth by splitting mountains—rescuing people—”
She suddenly turned around, looking at the mass of Sword Society masters and disciples behind her. “If we don’t rescue Bi Lianyi, with what face can our Central Plains Sword Society call itself orthodox in the martial world? If we don’t exterminate the thieves of Fengliu Shop, how can we stop their endless poison? Tonight Fengliu Shop publicly insulted our Sword Society. Right now we’ll make them pay blood for blood!”
The last phrase “pay blood for blood” came from Miss Hong with grief and indignation, carrying a slight sob. She wasn’t an imposing female hero but naturally appeared pitiable. This slight sob made the Sword Society members’ hearts surge with emotion. Some young people secretly thought that even if she wasn’t a princess, they absolutely wouldn’t let her be sad and distressed.
“Then please let Palace Master Wanyu lead the way.” Miss Hong bit her teeth. “This path is inconvenient for Little Hong to accompany—I entrust it to Hero Cheng.”
Cheng Yunpao nodded. Which people could be trusted and willing to risk this strange danger had actually been repeatedly discussed in the main tent earlier. Now Gu Xitan, Zheng Yue, Meng Qinglei, and Xu Qingbo stepped forward from the crowd, following behind Cheng Yunpao.
Cheng Yunpao coolly glanced at Wanyu Yuedan.
He Yan’er and Tie Jing called out “Palace Master.”
Only then did Wanyu Yuedan turn around. With his back to the direction where Bi Lianyi had been abducted, he flicked his sleeves and walked out.
He walked very quickly. With a crack, his foot hit a section of dead branch, tripping him slightly. Wanyu Yuedan added force to his step, directly crushing that section of dead branch into fragments, striding forward with large steps.