The tremors outside the cave subsided at some point. The black mist surged backward like a receding tide, revealing the mountain cliffs scorched black by the Star-Pattern Array. Su Qingxue's bamboo flute was still pressed against her lips, but the trailing notes dissipated in the wind—the thunderous, silk-tearing roar from moments before had made her ears ache.
"We've stabilized for now." Ye Fan wiped the last trace of blood from the corner of his mouth, his fingertips gently rubbing the patterns of the Jiuxiao Huanpei at his waist. When the crystal fragments had burst into a blinding light moments earlier, the divine artifact had suddenly grown hot, branding a pale red mark onto his palm. "That thing... or rather, that person, doesn't seem to want to harm us."
Lin Zhaoyue's broken sword hung at her side, though golden patterns still rippled across the blade's spine. She raised her eyes to look at him: "You said the figure in the crystal bears a seven-tenths resemblance to the description of the 'Realm Guardian' I saw in the remnant scrolls of the Taichu Sword Canon."
Chapter 305