Translator: Larbre Studio Editor: Larbre Studio
Due to the serious injuries, Zhang Ruochen's eyelids got heavier and heavier and finally losing his consciousness.
It was already the evening of the second day when he regained his consciousness.
Phoof.
Pus.h.i.+ng his palms against the stone bed, Zhang Ruochen bolted upright from lying p.r.o.ne with the strength gained from the rebound motion.
He examined his recovered arms and stretched around, and soon realized all of his injuries had healed completely.
However, his face hardened as soon as he realized his Spatial Ring and Spatial Bracelet were missing.
Many of his treasures were kept inside the ring and the bracelet.
"What happened?"
Zhang Ruochen ma.s.saged his sore temples, trying to recall what had happened before he pa.s.sed out. He remembered seeing a silhouette of Sword Saint Feiyu.
His eyes widened, "Could it be she who took my belongings?"
Hastily he walked towards the cave abode and found her figure in there.
Sword Saint Feiyu was sitting by a holy spring in a lilac color blouse. Her black silky hair was twirled into a bun and secured with three golden hair sticks, the cla.s.sic Chinese knot.
This time she had her Holy Qi revoked, so Zhang Ruochen could take a better look at her appearance.
Even her back was an aesthetically pleasing view; fair neck line, slim waist line, a view that would provoke any man's l.u.s.t and desire.
Zhang Ruochen took a few steps closer, but he was still ten miles away from her.
Her lilac blouse started firing purple lightning bolts, which transformed into a few hundred tiny sword-like lightning bolts, attacking Zhang Ruochen from above and the ground.
Bam!
Zhang Ruochen defended the attack with both his arms, and was thrown backwards.
It took him seven steps to regain his stability.
It was not Sword Saint Feiyu who attacked Zhang Ruochen, it was the defense mechanism of her lilac blouse.
From the look of it, no ordinary saints could get any closer to Sword Saint Feiyu though she was only sitting and did nothing else, all because of the protection given by the lilac blouse, Zhang Ruochen guessed.
Zhang Ruochen stared at the lilac blouse and asked, "Is that the Lightning G.o.ddess Lilac Blouse?"
"You've heard about the Lightning G.o.ddess Lilac Blouse, so you should know to stay further away from me, to avoid hurting yourself."
Sword Saint Feiyu spoke casually, and did not turn around or stand up.
Indeed, it was the Lightning G.o.ddess Lilac Blouse.
According to the legend, there was a G.o.ddess in the medieval times who was capable of controlling the power of lightning and thunder. She was called the "G.o.ddess of Lightning."
As the name suggested, the Lightning G.o.ddess Lilac Blouse was the blouse worn by the G.o.ddess.
The blouse carried the power of thunder and lightning along with the G.o.dly conscience. Hence it was called the "G.o.ddess' Blouse."
Zhang Ruochen had only read the record of the legendary blouse before. Never did he think that someone would be so lucky to have stumbled upon a G.o.ddess' relic.
Then, Sword Saint Feiyu stood up, holding the hilt of the Abyss Ancient Sword with one hand, putting her other hand on the blade. She said while staring at the sword in admiration, "In Kunlun's Field, there is another sword forged with G.o.dly Steel that no one knows of. It's no wonder the Empress gave the order to arrest you. Seems like the two of you are somehow fated." Sword Saint Feiyu did not ask about the origin of the Abyss Ancient Sword, nor the reasons behind the Empress' order.
She knew Zhang Ruochen would never answer, even if she asked.
"What a good sword. Once cultivated, it could probably withstand the Empress's Divine Blood Sword. Unfortunately, it has recognized its master. There you have it."
Sword Saint Feiyu's pinched her long fingers together to form a sword sign. Clouds of sword Qi oozed out from her fingertips.
The Abyss Ancient Sword vanished into a greyish ray of light as she motioned her fingers. The light ray spun towards Zhang Ruochen and reappeared again as a sword the moment it impaled the ground.
Zhang Ruochen did not retrieve it, but staring continuously at Sword Saint Feiyu. He asked, "What about Taotian Sword?"
"Until you have proven your innocence, I shall keep Taotian Sword on your behalf. Had it been Sword Saint Xuanji who stood here today, and made the same mistake as you did, I would have said the same thing," said Sword Saint Feiyu.
If it was others who told Zhang Ruochen the same thing with such arrogance, he would have felt disgusted, and might have even s.n.a.t.c.hed the Taotian Sword back with violence.
Yet Sword Saint Feiyu did not sound dominant at all with her mellow voice. This roused his curiosity and he wondered what kind of person she was.
Sword Saint Feiyu then picked up a box from the stone counter, one that contained Emperor Buddha's sarira.
Her finger sliced through the seal to unopen the box. As the lid began to open, a blinding golden light was emitted from the box, lighting the whole cave.
"The sarira of Emperor Buddha was indeed with you all along."
Sword Saint Feiyu smiled slightly, picking up the sarira carefully with two of her fingers, and observing it closely.
In fact, she was observing Zhang Ruochen's expression through her Spiritual Power.
Zhang Ruochen's expression remained unchanged throughout her noticing, other than the part where he tightened his grip. He said, "You have broken the spell residing in the Spatial Ring - Inscription of Recognition?"
The Emperor Buddha's sarira was kept in the internal s.p.a.ce of Spatial Ring, and protected with an inscripted seal, the Inscription of Recognition. Anyone who tried to open the box by force would have damaged the Ring altogether.
That was why Zhang Ruochen was surprised to see Sword Saint Feiyu holding the Emperor Buddha's sarira in one piece.
"How difficult can this be? To break the Inscription of Recognition. Especially to a sword saint?" Sword Saint Feiyu answered lightly.
Emperor Buddha's sarira was such a valuable and precious treasure. The fight for the treasure would cause a bloodbath, even among the saints. Now that the sarira had fallen onto Sword Saint Feiyu's hand, there was no way she would ever return it back to Zhang Ruochen.
However, to challenge Sword Saint Feiyu with his cultivation at the moment would be a wasted effort.
At last, Zhang Ruochen cooled himself down and withdrew his holy Qi. He said mockingly, "As a Sword Saint and the Chief of the Moon Wors.h.i.+p Demonic Sect, do you have to take things from a junior?"
The real name of Sword Saint Feiyu was Ling Feiyu. She was once Saintess of the Demonic Sect, then rose to becoming the Imperial Empress of Saintess Palace, one of the nine palaces in the Demonic Sect. Since then, she was given the t.i.tle First Saintess.
Zhang Ruochen once heard her name from Mu Lingxi. Moreover, there was very few saintesses in the whole of Kunlun's Field. It was not difficult to guess her ident.i.ty at all.
"To others, Emperor Buddha's sarira is a precious treasure. To me, it's not tempting at all."
Ling Feiyu placed the Emperor Buddha's sarira back into the box, then placed the box back into the Spatial Ring.
"Spatial vessels used to store items are rare to find. I can return the Spatial Ring to you, along with the valuables stored inside, but I will want to keep the Spatial Bracelet. This will be our first deal."
Ling Feiyu flicked her fingers gently, and the Spatial Ring flew to Zhang Ruochen.
Zhang Ruochen caught the ring and asked, "First deal? What do you mean?"
"If I hadn't fed you the Withered Pill, would your injuries have healed this rapidly? A Spatial Bracelet in exchange for a Withered Pill, isn't this a fair deal?" Ling Feiyu nodded lightly, as if muttering to herself.
Zhang Ruochen filled the Spatial Ring with Spiritual Power to inspect the items inside.
Emperor Buddha's sarira, the Time and s.p.a.ce Secret Guide, Shenwan Fruit, Ruyi Treasure Bottle, and a bottle of divine blood, all of which were kept in the Spatial Ring. Sword Saint Feiyu did not take anything more from him.
Any of the items above would have caused chaos and bloodbath once shown to the outside world. How could she not have any interest?
She was either someone with integrity or she thought she had Zhang Ruochen wrapped around her little finger already?
"Like what you just said, we will have a second deal?" Zhang Ruochen asked.
"Yes."
Ling Feiyu nodded, and replied, "I want the bottle of divine blood you have in your Spatial Ring. Name your price."
Actually, most of the divine blood was kept in the Scroll World. Zhang Ruochen kept only one of the bottle in the Spatial Ring for convenience purposes."
Though it was only one of the many bottles, a bottle of divine blood contained almost a thousand drops of it.
"Why are you interested in a bottle of divine blood when you are not tempted by the Emperor Buddha's sarira?" asked Zhang Ruochen.
Ling Feiyu answered in no hurry. "The Emperor Buddha's sarira is indeed valuable. But there still are relics left to be found from those few talented ones who achieved the Supreme Saint level after the medieval period. Besides, there were many divine spirits born during the medieval and the ancient times before that. All of them had relics left in Kunlun's Field as well."
Zhang Ruochen was shocked. "You have inherited the relic of a Supreme Saint? Or even a divine spirit's relic?"
"You don't need to know more on this matter. Just tell me how much it is to trade for a bottle of divine blood?"
Ling Feiyu stood up gracefully and turned to Zhang Ruochen. Her watery eyes fixed on him, giving out a calming stare as if she had looked past all the desirables in this world.
Her beautiful eyes, paired with soft gazes that talked, could lure any man's soul.
The only flaw she had was the veil that had been covering her face.
Zhang Ruochen nearly took the bait, but soon cleared his head. "I am willing to trade the divine blood, but you will have to wait for me to come up with the terms. For now, I haven't made up my mind yet."
After finis.h.i.+ng his words, he picked up the Abyss Ancient Sword and walked out of the cave abode.
Zhang Ruochen was actually testing Sword Saint Feiyu. He would like to know if she truly had the integrity or if she had other intentions.
"Calm and composed, humble and confident, and immune to l.u.s.t. Such personality plus his talent…this man has a great future ahead of him."
Ling Feiyu caressed the Spatial Bracelet on her wrist gently and thought to herself: Looks like I'll have to take him to the crypt of Taotian Sword's line of keepers to find out his true intention, and to find out if he is the spy for the Immortal Vampires.
