Li Xun knew the best way to deal with a threat was to ignore it. He gave a faint smile and said, "Fairy Shui, you've gone to the trouble of coming here in person just for this? The Eroding God Blade your sect sent a few days ago certainly didn't convey the same message."
"That's different. We can't interfere in that kind of matter. But a few days ago, someone on our side died. That's something we can't just let go."
Li Xun had already guessed she'd put it that way. His expression was flawless as he frowned and asked, "Someone died? Who?"
"He Can!"
Li Xun froze for a moment before realizing that must be the real name of the so-called Heaven-Evading Thorn.
He was about to show the shock he'd planned when a thought struck him, so he quickly let his stunned look drag on. "He Can?"
Shui Die Lan's bright eyes swept over him, her face blooming with a smile. "Oh, I forgot. You wouldn't know his real name. But his nickname is famous enough: the Heaven-Evading Thorn. Ring a bell?"
Li Xun cursed her viciously in his heart. Only then did he let the look of shock appear, and just as quickly he "pulled it back," though the frown on his brow only deepened.
When he felt Shui Die Lan had drawn things out enough, a trace of mockery curled the corner of his mouth. "Killers always meet the same end. Everyone knows that much. Don't tell me you people think I was the one who took him out?"
"In the forests of the southeast, with your strength, you just barely count as someone of note. Still, don't worry, the suspicion on you isn't too heavy."
A trace of mockery flickered across Li Xun's face, then smoothed away into calm.
Seeing his expression, Shui Die lan's eyes curved like a rainbow, making her look more like a friendly, cheerful young girl. "Don't blame me for this. They dragged me here from thousands of li away, and I wasn't exactly eager to come. Besides, I haven't really done anything to you. I just poked you once, didn't I? A big man like you isn't going to hold a grudge, is he?"
Li Xun let out a sharp laugh. "Easy for you to say. Why don't I try poking you and see how it feels?"
But the words were hardly out of his mouth when he realized the slip. He was completely naked at the moment. Coupled with what he'd just said, the remark carried a far more crude and lewd edge than he intended.
Shui Die Lan was no Gu Pin'er. How could she possibly take that?
As he expected, the instant the words left his lips, her gaze turned cold and the air between them tightened again.
But before she could act, Li Xun suddenly sensed something.
Shui Die Lan sensed it a heartbeat earlier.
The difference in their reactions was no more than a fraction of a breath. Just as Shui Die Lan's body began to move, Li Xun's hand cut through the air. He wasn't aiming to wound her, but the force of the strike was enough to make her falter for a moment.
Up in the tree, Gu Pin'er responded in kind. The Purple Sun Divine Sword traced a short arc, its edge hissing with sword qi, and followed Li Xun's strike to blunt Shui Die Lan's advance.
Shui Die Lan's gaze swept over them, cold and sharp.
But in that brief pause, the figure several li away had already vanished like a soaring wild goose, slipping beyond the reach of their senses.
Even though it was only a fleeting trace, Li Xun was certain the man was Xiao Zhongzi.
The dozen or so strong auras following close behind confirmed his judgment.
After hiding for five days, Xiao Zhongzi had finally been forced into the open by the combined pursuit of the three sects. With masters like Yuan Nan, Ti Wujiu, and the Eroding God Blade on his heels, it was not hard to imagine what fate awaited him.
The distant chase was a storm of activity, but within the boundaries of the restrictive formation, the three of them seemed to inhabit a different world that was charged with undercurrents of its own.
Thoughts churned through Li Xun's mind. This sudden turn of events was exactly what he least wanted to see.
It had only been five days since his one-month pact with Lin Wuyou. If Xiao Zhongzi were captured or killed now, how would he be able to show his face?
And yet, across from him stood Shui Die Lan...
Li Xun had already braced himself for whatever might come. But in the blink of an eye, Shui Die Lan's coldness melted away, and the familiar bright smile returned to her face.
She ignored Li Xun's unfriendly look and said with a lilting smile, "Compensate me."
"Compensate you? For what?"
"Don't play dumb. I don't believe you didn't notice. I didn't come all the way here just to catch a couple in the act. I was planning to set an ambush ahead of Xiao Zhongzi and cut off his escape. But thanks to you holding me up, that treasure might just slip through my fingers."
"Treasure?" Li Xun's eyes lit up at the word.
"Yes. Supposedly the Old Residence of some ascended immortal. Inside there should be top-grade artifacts, pill formulas, spirit herbs... Don't tell me you didn't know?"
"Ah, I really didn't."
"Well, you know now, don't you? So, compensate me."
Li Xun chuckled with a bit of roguish swagger. "Fairy Shui, just by opening that sweet little mouth of yours, you make treasure fall from the sky? That's a fine bargain. But you seem to have overlooked something. I've been here longer than you. So who held up who; that's something worth debating."
While the two sparred with words, the commotion outside had already faded into the distance. Their small sealed world grew quiet again. Both knew they'd lost their chance, and their gazes turned a few shades colder.
Just then, Shui Die Lan suddenly broke into a radiant smile. Her eyes swept around, sparkling with interest. "Oh, not a bad restrictive formation you've set up. No wonder they say Hundred Ghosts' mastery of restrictions ranks just below Spirit Bamboo Li Xun among the younger generation. Seems the rumor had some truth after all."
For a moment, Li Xun didn't know whether to laugh or cry, but he still had to keep up appearances. He gave a cold grunt, just enough to show his displeasure.
"It's a pity," Shui Die Lan went on, "you've come here alone. Spirit Bamboo is hunting you down, Yuan Nan sees you as a mortal enemy, and because of her..." Her gaze slid over to Gu Pin'er, and she gave a faint smile. "Ti Wujiu probably won't let you off either. Outnumbered and on your own, it won't be easy to gain the upper hand. Haven't you thought of finding a partner?"
Li Xun drew in a sharp breath and sneered, "You do keep yourself well informed."
Shui Die Lan smiled. "Pure coincidence. That day, He Can just happened to be hiding seven or eight feet deeper in the lake than Xiao Zhongzi."
Enlightenment struck Li Xun. He finally understood why his movements had been exposed during the breaking of the restriction. It must have been He Can, realizing from Xiao Zhongzi how important the Demon Thunder Monastery was, who had tightened surveillance there.
The thought made his anger flare, and he had no intention of showing Shui Die Lan a pleasant face. His voice turned cold. "Fairy Shui, perhaps you'd better explain yourself more clearly."
"The meaning is already clear enough," she said lightly. "Look at us; mutually restraining, mutually wary. In the end neither of us gains anything. But if we were to work together…"
"Work together?"
Li Xun almost laughed. A "bandit" talking about teaming up with with a "bodyguard" to take on the "victim"? What kind of absurd joke was that? Even putting that aside, if they really did join forces, who could possibly guarantee there would be… trust?
"We?" Li Xun put deliberate weight on the word, making plain his disbelief at Shui Die Lan's unreasonable proposal. "And what about your fellow sect members?"
Shui Die Lan answered as if it were the most natural thing in the world. "The fewer people, the greater the share. The more people, the smaller the share. That's the simplest logic."
Watching her expression, Li Xun suddenly remembered that the gentle-looking woman before him was in fact the most infamous "traitor" of the past hundred years.
Back when she had defected from the Falling Feathers Sect, she had slaughtered two-thirds of the twenty-four wings sent after her, gravely injured the sect's ace killer, the "Blood Feather," and then walked away without a shred of sentiment.
Could it be she was slipping back into old habits, trying to seize Xiao Zhongzi's secrets for herself; and maybe even turn her back on her sect again?
The thought stirred something in Li Xun. If that was her true intention, it might be an opportunity he could exploit. His mind spun through the possibilities, and his tone softened a little. "If it's about splitting treasure, wouldn't you be better off going alone? Why bother looking for a partner?"
"I don't know the first thing about restrictions or formations." Shui Die Lan sounded perfectly frank. But given that the Vermilion Hook Sect was famed for its mastery of mechanisms, the truth in her words was very much open to doubt.
Li Xun gave a faint smile, but before he could say anything, Shui Die Lan's own smile bloomed even brighter.
"And there's one more thing. This is the key to our working together. You've got so many weaknesses in my hands. Isn't that perfect?"
Li Xun felt a tightness in his chest at that.
Still, he could sense that although Shui Die Lan's temperament was strange, she wasn't like those gloomy schemers he'd encountered before, the sort who plotted every step.
Perhaps it was because in her bright, laughing eyes, there was never the slightest trace of a master's aloofness. To Li Xun, her whole way of treating people and events carried the flavor of someone playing a grand game with the world itself. To her, anyone and anything seemed to be nothing more than pieces to toy with, or at best, objects of amusement.
People like that acted without fixed purpose. But in a sense, they were far more dangerous than the ambitious types who pursued power openly.
"Don't always think the worst!" Shui Die Lan cut across his thoughts with a giggle. "If we join forces and we happen to run into Spirit Bamboo who's chasing you, I can even help take care of your little problem. No fee attached. How about that?"
Li Xun could only shake his head, half helpless, half amused.
At that moment, Shui Die Lan spoke decisively, "Alright, let's consider this agreement settled…"
Li Xun's eyes went wide. He had just started to say, "Hey..." when she raised a finger to her lips. "No time!"
Thinking of Xiao Zhongzi, who was already cornered with nowhere to run, Li Xun frowned. He really couldn't afford to waste a second. If Xiao Zhongzi was caught or killed, Shui Die Lan might walk away empty-handed, but him? He'd lose every shred of face he had left.
He let out a quiet sigh and held his tongue.
"Perfect. Let's go!"
Smiling as she spoke, Shui Die Lan's figure flickered and vanished. Who knew if, now that she was free of restraint, she'd actually stick to what they had just agreed on. Li Xun didn't dare hesitate. He gave Gu Pin'er a quick instruction, then rushed off in the same direction.
The chase lasted the whole night. Xiao Zhongzi really did have some tricks up his sleeve. Using the tangled terrain of the Southeast Forest Sea, he managed to run circles around dozens of renowned cultivators, leaving them stumbling after him, humiliated again and again.
Li Xun was more than happy to let the scene play out the way it was, enough that he even had the leisure to think things over.
The most pressing matter now was still Xiao Zhongzi.
Keeping that man alive under the noses of formidable experts like Yuan Nan and Ti Wuju was about as hard as going up against Zhong Yin himself.
So… was the message Lin Wuyou sent through the Feather Attendant meant to come into play at a time like this?
As he was turning the thought over, Shui Die Lan suddenly spoke up ahead. "You've dealt with Xiao Zhongzi before. What do you make of him?"
Li Xun lifted his pace and flew up beside her, smiling. "Cunning and clever."
Shui Die Lan giggled. "More cunning than you?"
There was a touch of friendly teasing in her tone, a strangely delicate attitude. Li Xun glanced at her, only smiled, and said nothing.
Shui Die Lan went on smoothly, "I want the Blood God Child in his hands. That should count as part of our share of the spoils."
"The Blood God Child?" Li Xun sat atop a mountain of treasures, and that fragment held no appeal to him at all.
Judging from his own indifference, he only grew more curious about Shui Die Lan's eagerness. He asked, "You created the Reverse Shadow Escape Technique yourself, already unmatched in the world. Even if the Blood God Scroll is impressive, it might not suit you. If you force yourself to cultivate it, what good would it do?"
A strange gleam flashed in her eyes before she laughed. "Don't you think it would feel pretty nice to have every rare technique under heaven in your hands?"
Li Xun was left speechless. He knew that in the Tongxuan Realm, there were plenty of people like Shui Die Lan who, over their long lifespans, had lost sight of any real goal and busied themselves with little distractions that led nowhere, just to pass the time.
But someone like Shui Die Lan, who collected the secret arts of every sect as if they were trophies. This was the first he had ever seen.
Don't tell me she betrayed the Falling Fathers Sect back then for this reason!
With that thought in mind, the two were just about to delve deeper into the subject when, ten li ahead, the primordial qi suddenly stirred. Surprised, Li Xun turned toward Shui Die Lan, only to see her looking back at him at the same time.
Their eyes met, and each instantly knew what the other was thinking.
"Xiao Zhongzi!"