Quiet Night. Imperial City. Lonely Moon.

Another green lotus spawned on Liaoliao’s fourth step, but it was significantly brighter than its predecessors. Even though he erased the black energy again, he couldn’t find it in him to celebrate since he had reached the bleakest point of the night.

The green lotus resembled a green frog that had taken in a belly-expanding amount of air in and was ready to explode at any moment. Its leaves swayed as though they were on the cusp of falling. Reinforcing the lotus with recitals couldn’t increase its threat; it was purely a waste of energy and opportunity. Tianhu would break out and emerge at his peak with no other intent than to harm the monk who’d lost his momentum.

Liaoliao didn’t take the fourth step because he wanted to. He was unexpectedly forced to. He might’ve been the one to mention Ran Feikong and Tianfeng Yu first, but he wasn’t sure what specifically set Tianhu off.

Liaoliao confirmed Tianhu wasn’t a descendant of Ran Feikong based on the latter’s responses. His provocations were mere experiments to see if he could get a glimpse into Tianhu’s relationship with Ran Clan or a skeleton for him to continue exploring. Liaoliao didn’t intend to provoke Tianhu into attacking.

Liaoliao couldn’t comprehend why someone who wasn’t a member of Ran Clan was so riled up. The most frustrating thing was that he couldn’t verify if his assumptions were actually wrong. To make matters worse, Tianhu didn’t show a single perceivable flaw.

Not even an avalanche would be enough to make Liaoliao bat an eye at his level, but Tianhu didn’t show a single opening when he flipped out despite Tianhu seemingly executing it as though he didn’t need to give it conscious thought. No matter how skilled and experienced someone was, they were still meant to express emotions, meaning their emotional state should’ve affected their performance and the manner in which they performed their movements. When someone was as livid as Tianhu was, it should’ve been the norm to lose accuracy, yet Tianhu proved himself to be an exception to the unwritten rule.

The moment the black blades poured down from above, Liaoliao knew he had lost the initiative and was forced to take his fourth step. If it was one of Tianhu’s tactics, then he deserved praise even as an enemy. Not even the likes of Yu Sihe and Shang Bieshi were able to pin Liaoliao in such a passive position.

Despite taking a fourth step, there was still foreign energy brewing inside the lotus, ready to blast its way out.

***

Ming Feizhen looked as if he just had his braised pork shoulders stolen from under his nose after he heard the conversation between Tianhu and Liaoliao and went silent. Gongsun Chu, too, didn’t utter a word. Eventually, the discomfort built up enough for Ming Feizhen to say, “I’m not.”

“It’s hard being a successor of a hero,” remarked Gongsun Chu, gazing at the moon. “It’s hard.”

Ming Feizhen wanted to scratch his nose in response, but his hands were stuck. “You know what the hell a God of Battle Nine Diagrams is?”

Gongsun Chu gave Ming Feizhen a sarcastic, “Why are you asking when you know?” look and then replied, “It’s Ran Feikong’s creation. In terms of formidableness, it’s comparable to Li Wuming’s Broken Sword Eight Layer Light. Were it not for the Broken Sword series producing one of the world’s Four Great Books, it’d be impossible to tell which is superior.”

“Sick.” Ming Feizhen made it clear from his exaggerated expression that he asked the question for a purpose besides actual curiosity. “Does that mean Liaoliao has his hands on Broken Sw-?”

“I don’t know the answer, either. Cold Mountain Temple and I are only in contact for business. While I have my own conjectures, I have nothing to support them. I wouldn’t tell you even if I knew. You don’t seem to have any self-awareness of your background, my captive Lord San Shen.”

Ming Feizhen did his best to shrug. “Just a casual conversation. What’s wrong with small talk as you enjoy a show? If you win and Uncle Jiyi comes over to kill me and I haven’t even had a chat, I’d have missed out, no?”

“Jiyi?” Gongsun Chu simpered. “He was a different man when he went by that name.”

“By the sounds of it, General Ran’s discipline can rival our founding Emperor’s, correct?”

“… Hard to say. Their personalities are similar, and their disciplines are interlinked with their thoughts. If they fought based on their own principles, it’d be hard to predict the victor. Based on martial arts disciplines alone… Broken Sword Eight Layer Light is not something human might can stop or top.”

“In other words, our founding Emperor was the superior man?” Ming Feizhen appeared to genuinely be invested in the debate.

Gongsun Chu snorted through his nose. “His comprehension of Broken Sword was thanks to the Four Great Books. How does he get credit when it was all thanks to the wisdom of his predecessors? On the other hand, Ran Feikong created his own discipline; that’s called true genius. In no way was he inferior to Li Wuming.”

“Not bad, not bad. You seem to be all-knowing, Mr. Chu.”

“Live long enough and you’ll know a little more.” Gongsun Chu looked over to his entertained opposition. “Are you enjoying this, or are you not afraid of death? You’re smiling when you’re dead either way tonight?”

“I am afraid of death.” Ming Feizhen did a quick eyebrow hike. “I don’t think I’ll die here, though, so why be depressed? You still down to bet?”

Though they were engaged in conversation, the two of them could hear Tianhu on the cusp of breaking out from his confines.

“Of course.”

“Even when the monk is about to get stomped?”𝒊𝒏𝒏𝙧𝒆𝙖𝙙.𝙘𝙤𝙢

“Why not?”

“Good to hear. Since you know my identity within Divine Moon Cult, I’m upping the ante. If I lose, not even Divine Moon Cult can go after you.”

“If I lose, you can keep all the items you’ve taken.”

“Deal!” On second thought, Ming Feizhen found it odd that Gongsun Chu was so confident in Liaoliao. “Why… are you so sure Uncle Jiyi will win? What tricks are you hiding?”

“Since when was I sure? Neither of them are ordinary folk, not to mention they have to release all reserves. How could I be sure who will win?” Seeing as Ming Feizhen was still bewildered, Gongsun Chu remarked, “Ah, I see now.” Whilst clapping, he added, “You haven’t seen them yet.”

“Who?”

***

This time, Tianhu’s black energy didn’t completely erase the green lotus upon breaking out. Instead, Tianhu’s blades and Liaoliao’s lotus pushed up against each other in a deadlock.

The monk with his hands in prayer still had the sorrowful look as he held back the onslaught of attacks. If there was one thing that was certain, Liaoliao had grasped the essence Tu Yunting tried to express as perfectly as Tu Yunting himself wished.

“You do not have a spear nor a heart dedicated to spearplay. You are proficient with weapons, but your lack of dedication to spears as your sole weapon renders it impossible for you to break through in one spear attack.”

“I don’t care,” condescendingly responded Tianhu, continuing to dial up the intensity. “It was pretty smart to incite disorder in the capital and distract the intelligence agents; however, if you can drop me by midnight, the warriors swapping in and out inside the imperial city will arrive. Then, the people in the imperial palace will arrive. Whatever it is your goal is tonight, I’ll be making sure none of them are achieved.”

Tianhu’s anger and hostility were apparent, but it was impossible to tell why.

Liaoliao sighed. “Brother Gongsun, it really has turned out how you predicted. This is a challenging task. This one has no other choice.“

Quiet night.

Imperial city.

Lonely moon.

As Liaoliao took his fifth step, he softly enunciated, “Executioner.”

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