Chapter 513 — The Mysterious Cave

On the rope bridge, Kong Que asked: “Liang Cangxu, which Heavenly King of the Heavenly Dragon Sect are you actually a disciple of? To be honest, I’ve never heard of any Heavenly King who excels in Saber Aura.”

“If I said I was a disciple of Emperor Shitian (Dishitian). Do you believe me?”[TL_Note: Chinese Buddhist name for a deity]

“What’s there not to believe? It’s just… Emperor Shitian…”

“When one skill is mastered, a hundred skills follow; all methods return to the same source. Nothing is impossible, don’t you agree, Lord Kong?”

Kong Que sighed helplessly, then smiled. “With such a claim, I can hardly strike to kill. If Lord Dishitian were angered, it’s not something a mere Incense Spreading Sect disciple like myself could endure. So — I’ll capture you instead and let my master decide your fate.”

As she spoke, the cyan Sword Radiance along her flexible sword grew brighter. Her figure drifted forward as before, and with a single slash, she struck toward Liang Cangxu — the same approach Qin Shiyue had used earlier.

Liang Cangxu showed no weakness. He swung his twin sabers, and crimson saber aura surged forth along their edges to meet the attack.

Thus, the cyan sword radiance and crimson saber aura clashed once more.

The entire scene became even more spectacular. The man in green robes and the maiden in white darted through the air above the rope bridge, while flashes of red saber aura and cyan sword radiance scattered light in every direction, colliding again and again. This time, however, there was no longer the clear clang of metal; instead, it was replaced by a sharp hissing sound.

“Saber aura?” Hidden within the mountain hollow, Zhang Xiaohua nodded inwardly. The glow of a longsword was called sword radiance; that of a saber, saber aura — the terms were indeed fitting. And through his spiritual perception, he sensed that both the sword radiance and saber aura were far more powerful than before. Even the sound of air being sliced by their swings was audible. It was easy to judge that their martial skill had reached a level rarely seen in the jianghu — they were surely among the very top experts.

Yet even after watching this long, although Zhang Xiaohua knew sword radiance and saber aura were formidable techniques, he still couldn’t grasp exactly what made them so extraordinary. Nie Qianyu and Valley Master Nie had spoken of them before, but that had only been hearsay. He couldn’t truly understand. So as he watched the two fight back and forth, he merely felt that it was far fiercer than before — but why these techniques made people of the martial world turn pale at their mere mention remained beyond his comprehension.

On the rope bridge, Kong Que and Liang Cangxu were evenly matched — like worthy rivals meeting their equals. They battled for nearly half a day without any clear victor. Yet through his spiritual perception, Zhang Xiaohua could tell that the Saber Aura on Liang Cangxu’s steel saber had already begun to dim, showing signs of fading — likely because his inner strength was running low.

Although Liang Cangxu kept trying to feint and withdraw from the fight to find a chance to take some medicinal pills, Kong Que had her own calculations. She simply pressed the fight relentlessly, giving him no such opportunity.

After another cup of tea’s time, Liang Cangxu slipped for a moment. Kong Que’s flexible sword thrust forward, tearing a large hole in his green robe. As she followed up with a casual sweep meant to cut him in half at the waist, Liang Cangxu hastily raised his saber to block. But by then, the Saber Aura around the weapon had grown thin. The two weapons barely collided before a sharp rip rang out — like tearing a sheet of paper — and the steel saber was sliced cleanly in two.

Seeing this, Zhang Xiaohua frowned. During the earlier exchanges, their blades had clashed more than once without damage. Even when the Sword Radiance and Blade Aura were at their strongest, nothing like this had happened. Now that the Blade Aura had faded, it was broken by the Sword Radiance… Could it be that the true terror of Sword Radiance lay in its sharpness — in its ability to cut through anything?

Sure enough, when Liang Cangxu saw his saber destroyed, he was startled. With a flick of his hand, he hurled the broken half as a concealed projectile toward Kong Que, then stamped his foot and shot rapidly toward the far end of the rope bridge.

Kong Que sneered inwardly at the incoming blade. With a light flick of her flexible sword, she split it in two, sending the pieces tumbling into the empty valley below.

Then her figure stretched forward, the secret lightness skill of the Incense Spreading Sect unfolding as she pursued him closely.

Watching the two fighters grow more distant, Zhang Xiaohua couldn’t help but knit his brows. He would have liked to follow and watch the excitement, but the only connection between the two mountains was the rope bridge — if he crossed it, he would surely be seen. And if he used his Earth-Escape technique, the valley was extremely deep; going from the valley floor and climbing back to the peak would take considerable effort. Whether to go or not — it truly was a vexing decision.

Thinking this, Zhang Xiaohua released his divine sense, intending to observe from afar.

But when his perception swept across the cliff on the opposite side, he froze in surprise.

On that mountain, further down along the inward slope, two young men in green clothing stood quietly. They were dressed just like Liang Cangxu, each holding twin sabers — and on those blades, faint crimson Saber Aura shimmered as well!

“Damn…” Zhang Xiaohua groaned inwardly. Just now, he had been focused entirely on the fight atop the rope bridge and hadn’t paid attention to the opposite side. Seeing Liang Cangxu’s manner, he had assumed the man came alone. Who would have thought he’d play one game openly while setting an ambush behind the scenes?

Zhang Xiaohua knew that one-on-one, none of those three would be Kong Que’s match. Two against one — she might still have a chance to escape. But three against one — she wouldn’t even have the chance to flee.

It had to be said: they had investigated the strength of the Incense Spreading Sect thoroughly.

Should he call Kong Que back?

Watching her nearly reach the far side, Zhang Xiaohua hesitated within the mountain hollow. Going back now to inform the sect disciples was already too late — and besides, how would he explain it? Even if he shouted for Kong Que to return, she might not listen. After all, his status was nothing more than a mere medicine boy of the Incense Spreading Sect… and one who’d gotten in through the back door at that.

“Sigh… looks like this young master — no, this young hero — no, this medicine boy — will have to step in.”

Zhang Xiaohua smacked his lips, feeling rather pleased with himself. “An inner disciple of the Incense Spreading Sect needing rescue from a lowly medicine boy — heh, that’s something to be proud of.”

With that thought, he formed a hand seal and directly tunneled deep beneath the mountain cliff using his Earth-Escape technique.

Kong Que and Liang Cangxu had taken the shortcut, crossing directly by the rope bridge. But Zhang Xiaohua, in order to conceal his movements, had no choice but to make a detour. He first tunneled from the mountaintop down to the valley floor, then crossed underground from this side of the valley to the other, and finally tunneled up again toward the opposite peak. The whole process was basically practice for his Earth-Escape technique.

Of course, he could have used his levitation art along the valley bottom, but thick forests filled the gorge, and there was always the risk of being spotted by Incense Spreading Sect disciples on the mountaintop. It was safer to remain underground.

This mountain ravine was truly deeper than ordinary. Zhang Xiaohua tunneled for quite some time before reaching the valley floor. Releasing his divine sense to orient himself slightly, he continued toward the opposite side.

Yet just as Zhang Xiaohua was about to arrive at the far end of the valley floor, something unexpected happened.

While traveling through the earth, Zhang Xiaohua suddenly saw brightness before his eyes and found himself inside an extremely narrow cave. It lay directly along his tunneling route, yet his divine sense had not detected it at all!

Standing there, he froze in surprise. This was the first time he had ever tunneled into someone else’s cave while using the Earth-Escape Technique. Naturally, he began looking around.

It was a small cavern that could hold only four or five people. Several fist-sized luminous pearls embedded in the walls illuminated the space well enough to see clearly. But when he looked closer, Zhang Xiaohua couldn’t help drawing in a sharp breath: Not far ahead of him stood a towering skeleton, twice his height!

Frowning, Zhang Xiaohua did not approach. Instead, he swept it with his divine sense, examining it carefully.

It appeared to be a human skeleton. Well… Zhang Xiaohua had never actually seen a real human skeleton before, but two arms, two legs, and a skull — that should count as human, right?

From the bare fingertips of its forearms came faint fluctuations of yuan qi. Normally, Zhang Xiaohua would have rushed forward without hesitation to claim it for himself. But this time… he found himself hesitating.

Because the fluctuations of yuan qi were somewhat obscure, not at the frequency he was accustomed to sensing, and moreover, on the skeleton’s skull, there was a black hole larger than a fist. It looked as though someone had torn it open with their bare hand… assuming anyone possessed a hand that large.

Examining more closely the objects emitting those fluctuations in the skeleton’s grasp, he saw one was a pitch-black jade slip and the other a small, fiery-red ring. Jade slips were nothing new to Zhang Xiaohua; he had seen many, but a black one was a first, and this one was faintly heart-shaped.

As for the small ring, he had never seen its like. One side was a plain circular band, while the other bore something like a small sphere; on closer inspection, it resembled the shape of flames.

Take them, or leave them?

Zhang Xiaohua scratched his head. But remembering the urgent situation unfolding above, with Kong Que in grave danger, he didn’t have much time to hesitate. And even if he saved her, he would have to make another detour to return to the carriage; he likely wouldn’t have time to come back here to retrieve these items.

So, gritting his teeth, Zhang Xiaohua beckoned with his hand. The pitch-black jade slip and fiery-red ring flew straight into his grasp. The moment they left the skeleton’s fingers, the bones collapsed, crumbling instantly into dust.

Yet as the skeleton fell, a strand of black vapor drifted out from within it and floated into the soil above the cave. The instant the vapor touched the earth, it seeped into it. Immediately afterward, the fluctuations of yuan qi within the cave surged violently, and the luminous pearls set into the walls flashed brightly.

When Zhang Xiaohua looked again, he realized that he was no longer standing in the cramped cavern that could fit only four or five people, but in a resplendent hall, gleaming with gold and jade!

Frowning, Zhang Xiaohua paused to think. Just now, he had merely taken the jade slip and the ring into his hands; he had not felt himself move at all. Only the black vapor from the skeleton had triggered this transformation. Looking again at his hands, both items were still there. Could he have stumbled into some kind of formation again?

Immediately, Zhang Xiaohua naturally thought of the Three-Talents Banner Formation of the “Auspicious Three Treasures”. He and Qin Shiyue had both been trapped inside it before and had experienced the transformations within its array. He knew that what one saw inside a formation was not necessarily real. Thus, Zhang Xiaohua first tucked the two items into his robes, then released his divine sense.

The moment his perception spread out, Zhang Xiaohua’s face turned deathly pale, and he was struck with utter shock.