"Heh, little brother, thanks for your concern. But the monsters here have all been cleared out, and there's no danger left. I can sense that your swordsmanship is still quite crude and needs a lot more practice," said the white-haired woman.
Hearing this, Yanqing was rather surprised, thinking to himself: This woman deduced my skill level purely from the sound of my sword; she's clearly no ordinary person. I'd better be careful.
"Ha, big sister is certainly clever. Indeed, Yanqing hasn't been practicing the sword for long, so naturally my technique is rusty—I wouldn't dare compare myself to an expert. By the way, I haven't asked for your name yet, Sister!"
"My name is Jingliu. Revisiting an old place brings back quite a flood of memories!"
"You're a Xianzhou native too?"
"…Let's not dwell on the past, little brother Yanqing. We'd better hurry along to a safer spot."
Deciding to play it by ear, Yanqing kept his composure, and the two of them walked forward.
Meanwhile, the Astral Express crew, while searching for Dan Heng, happened to run into General Jing Yuan and Fu Xuan.
"Huh? Jing Yuan… what brings you here? And Fu Xuan too? Are you here to catch the Stellaron Hunters?" asked March 7th.
"Haha, you needn't worry yourselves about the Stellaron Hunters. I imagine you're here looking for Dan Heng!" Jing Yuan said with a smile.
"Eh? How did you know? Oh right, Fu Xuan can divine the future, so I suppose that's no surprise," said March 7th.
"Everyone, you will see him. But first, we need to go to a place where you will meet him," Jing Yuan promised.
"Should we follow him?" March 7th asked Welt.
"General Jing Yuan is a man of his word; he's unlikely to deceive us over something like this. Besides, we don't know the Xianzhou well, and following him will be safer," said Welt.
"I suppose that's true! As expected of Mr. Yang, he always thinks things through."
"…Why is this Xianzhou place so complicated? I've asked plenty of people, and I'm still lost. Sigh, how am I supposed to find Yanqing like this?" Baihong muttered gloomily. He had seen the message Yanqing sent him earlier, but suddenly remembering that Sushang hadn't taught him how to type, he lowered the phone he had picked up.
"Trying to master this iron brick is really a hassle!"
Just then, a low-battery notification popped up, warning that the phone was about to shut down.
"Low battery—uh, what should I do now? Would shocking it with electricity fix it?" Baihong looked around, checking if there was any kind of power-generating device he could use to juice up his phone.
With that, the screen went black, and no amount of pressing the power button worked.
"Oh no! Surely this little gadget isn't broken? Why won't it turn on? I'll have to ask Yanqing about it later."
Stashing the phone away, Baihong did not give up his determination to find Yanqing.
"Well, little brother Yanqing. Thanks for walking me this far, but I must be going."
Before she could finish, Yanqing interrupted her. "Stop pretending. You're not actually blind at all, are you? Recognizing my swordsmanship earlier could perhaps be explained by acute hearing, but all along this road you've walked as steadily as flat ground. Just what kind of person are you?" With that, he struck a defensive stance.
"…Little brother, first of all, I never said I was blind. You're the one who saw me wearing a blindfold and assumed I was blind on your own accord; that's hardly rigorous thinking, little brother," Jingliu sighed. "Also, you shouldn't go prying into things you aren't supposed to know. It's not good for you."
As soon as she finished speaking, Jingliu's aura surged violently. She leaped into the air and slashed out a crescent of moonlight, crying, "Let's see what your swordsmanship is really worth! See if you can take this blow of mine!"
Not daring to be careless, sweat beading across his forehead, Yanqing felt the immense power contained in the strike. He knew he had to give it everything he had, or he would surely die.
"Stop right there!" A familiar voice rang out, and another fierce burst of sword qi surged forward, neutralizing Jingliu's attack.
"Oh? Interesting. I don't believe I've ever seen you before, little friend. Where did you drop in from?" Jingliu's expression remained utterly calm and unruffled.
"I am Baihong, of the Cloud Knights. May I ask who you are, Excellency? Why are you attacking Yanqing?" Baihong stepped up beside Yanqing and helped him to his feet.
"Heh, what a way to put it. I wasn't attacking him; it's simply been many years since I last returned, and seeing someone with such innate talent here on the Xianzhou, my hands naturally got a bit itchy—just testing his sword, that's all," Jingliu replied.
"Yanqing, do you know this young lady?"
"No. Besides, she doesn't look much like a young lady to me! You really don't need to be so polite with her," Yanqing retorted.
"Hmph, quite the sharp tongue. Oh well, I won't tangle with you two any longer. Keep practicing hard." With those words, she vanished without a trace.
"I finally found you, Yanqing. Are you hurt?"
"I'm fine. What about you?"
"I'm fine too. That woman is really strange! But I could sense she's extremely powerful. That strike just now was probably just tossed out casually, so it seems she harbors no hostility toward you," said Baihong.
"Never mind, that's not important. Let's pursue the Stellaron Hunters first."
With that, the two of them set off to investigate the Stellaron Hunters' trail.
"He's here," said Blade.
"Mm, right on time," said Kafka.
"…Those emotions, Kafka, I can feel them. This feeling again! This…" Blade asked.
"Then unleash the Mara-Struck…" said Kafka.
Dan Heng walked slowly away, showing no trace of fear.
"It's time to pay the price! The time has come!!" said Blade. "Did you really think you could run away?"
"I've said it many times: I am Dan Heng. I have nothing to do with your past."
"Heh, you think that by changing your face and assuming a new identity, you can sweep your past sins away?" Blade sneered as he walked toward Dan Heng, raising his blade against him. "You haven't even experienced death yet, 'Dan Heng.' I'm going to make you feel that pain."
Dan Heng was startled. Lately, he had constantly been having nightmares about being hunted down by a mysterious man; though the man couldn't kill him, he clung like a ghost and refused to let go. Thinking back on it now, he still broke out in a cold sweat.
At that moment, aided by the Diting, Yanqing and Baihong happened to track down the Stellaron Hunters.
"Phew, we made it in time. It's them. Good thing we had the Diting." Though at first they hadn't held out much hope.
"That's the Stellaron Hunter Blade—the blade of the sword, Blade. The General told me before that this person is exceptionally dangerous, a heinous fugitive, so we have to be careful," Yanqing pointed at Blade and told Baihong.
When Baihong looked over, he realized this was none other than the man from earlier.
"We meet again, Excellency."
"You aren't killing anyone today, fugitive. Come with us."
"Hah, how wonderful. I didn't expect to run into you brat again. Perfect—once I'm done dealing with Dan Heng, I'll come have a chat with you," Blade sneered, then charged toward Dan Heng.
"Your opponent is me." Wielding his sword, Baihong attacked Blade. Blade slashed left and right with his cleaved sword, parrying Baihong's sword qi. Baihong thrust his sword toward Blade, who ducked down to dodge while simultaneously swinging his blade at Baihong. Crossing his sword horizontally to block, Baihong met Blade's weapon with a harsh screech of metal, then leaped backward and unleashed a sword stance: Raging Wind Sweeps Falling Leaves. A flurry of gathered sword qi surged forward, churning up a storm of shattered stones that completely surrounded Blade.
"Heh, interesting. Come on then." Blade wasn't flustered in the least.
As for Yanqing, just as he was preparing to step in, he overlooked Kafka hiding in the corner. "Listen to me, little friend—interfering in other people's business without permission is terribly impolite, you know! Why don't you take a nice rest first?" Kafka used her Spirit Whisper, and Yanqing's gaze immediately went vacant as he froze in place, unable to move.
"Looks like an accident has occurred?" Silver Wolf's voice sounded in Kafka's ear. "Need me to lend a hand?"
Kafka shook her head. "No need to interfere. Elio said that anything not in the script is unimportant."
"Good to know. Speaking of which, this guy is really a mystery; I have no idea which planet he's from. By all rights, someone with that kind of foundation shouldn't have a shabby birthplace, but I've checked most of the planets in the universe and found nothing that fits. He just popped up on the Xianzhou out of nowhere, like an NPC suddenly spawning in some shoddy game."
"Sounds like you're getting interested."
"I told you, I don't want to be too bored. I'm almost sick of playing those games all day long. Now that there's finally something happening, I might as well look for some fun. Oh well, let's just wait and see how it plays out." With that, Silver Wolf went offline.
Over on the other side, Baihong and Blade were locked in a fierce battle, while Dan Heng still hesitated over whether to intervene. On one side was a vicious Stellaron Hunter, and on the other was someone he didn't know.
"Forget it, I might as well help that young man." Gripping his weapon, Dan Heng prepared to enter the fray.
"Looks like I'll have to use my full strength." After another attack was blocked, Baihong decided he couldn't drag this out any longer.
"Fiery Dance Whirlwind!"
An intensely violent fire tornado rapidly formed, tearing through the surroundings. The air grew scorching hot, and dozens of fissures split open across the ground. Dan Heng hurriedly retreated to a safe distance, worrying whether the young brother could hold his own. After all, that fellow Blade was truly troublesome to deal with; even when severely wounded, he could heal rapidly, desperate for death yet unable to find it.
A look of faint, satisfied amusement even crossed Blade's face. "Not bad, not bad! Come, let me taste the threat of death. Such fine scenery truly calls for everyone to share and enjoy it together." Stroking his sword with his fingers, he chopped down with immense force. Several ferocious attacks hurtled toward Baihong; the moment the two forces collided, a violently explosive wave of energy erupted. Though Blade's body was riddled with horrifying wounds and blood poured from head to toe, he didn't care in the slightest and kept charging straight toward Dan Heng.
At the same time, the wounds on his body were rapidly healing.