Thousand Dusts Ferry Me - Chapter 58

The man still hadn’t given up. His wrist made a slight movement as he once again directed his sword intent toward Yun Qing’s neck.

Jiang Baiyu forcefully pushed outward with his scabbard, sending it flying at incredible speed toward the man’s wrist. The man had no choice but to withdraw his arm and dodge, temporarily avoiding the scabbard strike.

Everything happened in the blink of an eye. Then Jiang Baiyu thrust his sword toward the man, who raised his own sword to block.

Jiang Baiyu’s face was as cold as frost, with killing intent heavier than ever before in his sword energy.

Although the man’s face remained expressionless, a flash of surprise crossed his eyes.

The two moved so quickly they left only blurred shadows. Fu Xue, lying on the ground watching the spectacle, was asked by Cheng Suiyan, “Who’s better, Baiyu or him?”

“They’re both, both, both, both better than us.”

Ci Li snorted derisively.

Yun Qing, however, could see that the man was temporarily being suppressed by Baiyu’s forceful aura.

Unfortunately, Jiang Baiyu’s fine steel sword was of poor quality. A sword’s material determined the upper limit of cultivation power it could withstand, and with his steel sword, he couldn’t exert his full strength.

Yun Qing wanted to give him the Cangye sword, but she had not a bit of strength in her body, her brain was throbbing with pain, and she was lying there like a dead dog.

She turned her head to watch their sword exchange, calculating the moment when Baiyu would look at her. With great effort, she raised one finger and tapped the hilt of the Cangye sword.

In her mind, she thought how pathetically poor their group was, having to share a treasured sword, which was both laughable and pitiful.

Jiang Baiyu caught Yun Qing’s small movement from the corner of his eye and understood immediately. He sent his steel sword flying toward the man and didn’t bother to retrieve it.

Taking advantage of the moment when the man was dodging his sword, he quickly jumped back to create distance, retreating to Yun Qing’s side. He channeled his cultivation power, and suddenly the Cangye sword rose from the ground and flew into his hand.

In the rapidly changing battle, he still managed to spare a moment to glance down at Yun Qing. Seeing that she was also looking at him, their gazes met, and he quickly smiled at her.

Cheng Suiyan couldn’t help saying, “He’s really good at pretending.”

The man also seemed to have lost interest in testing his swordsmanship against Jiang Baiyu. When Jiang Baiyu took up the Cangye sword, the man suddenly pulled something from his waist—something small held between his fingers.

The others couldn’t see clearly due to distance or angle, but Jiang Baiyu could. Between the man’s fingers was a six-petaled snowflake, roughly the size of a fingernail, pure white and crystalline, emitting rich spiritual energy.

He flicked the snowflake into the air, his lips moving slightly. Instantly, leaden clouds gathered, and snow began to fall from the mid-autumn sky.

The snow didn’t gradually transition from small to large flakes—it immediately fell as thick goose feathers, like dancing jade flowers. Soon, the people lying on the ground were covered with a blanket of snow. This snow seemed even more bone-chillingly cold than winter snow.

Fu Xue shivered as she lay on the ground. “I was already affected by the yin energy, and now it’s snowing! I’m freezing!” She curled up her body, trembling, and finding that ineffective, her eyes suddenly lit up as she pressed herself against Ci Li’s fluffy back.

Ci Li sensed trouble. “What are you doing?!”

“I’m freezing to death. Little cat, come warm me up.”

Ci Li was furious and struggled, saying, “Don’t you understand propriety between men and women?!”

“You’re just a cat, what do you know about propriety between men and women.”

“You…!”

Cheng Suiyan said, “Little cat, let me help instead. I’m a man.”

“Get lost!” Ci Li shouted.

Yun Qing turned her head to look at them and saw Ci Li’s two white front paws stubbornly scratching at the ground as he cursed loudly while being dragged backward by Fu Xue. Two small paw marks were left in the snow-covered ground where his claws had scraped.

Tsk, tsk, what a pity—she was too far from her junior sister to join in the fun.

At this moment, Jiang Baiyu had no talismans or spells to counter the snow and wind. If he summoned heavenly fire, not only would its effect be limited, but he might also accidentally harm his friends. After a brief moment of contemplation, he took out the Chixia Soul-Stirring Drum.

The Chixia Soul-Stirring Drum could disturb the opponent’s sea of consciousness, which could indirectly prevent him from continuing to control the snowflake talisman.

Boom, boom, boom.

In the midst of the wind and snow, Jiang Baiyu’s face was like white jade, untouched by dust. His brilliant, clear eyes had frosted over, reflecting the storm, making him appear even more divine and austere. His lips, slightly deeper in color than usual, opened and closed like flower petals as he chanted the incantation:

“One body of fire, Two faces of self. Golden light shakes the soul, Chixia stirs the spirit.”

The distant, heavy drumbeat seemed like a mighty hammer striking from the horizon, hitting one’s sea of consciousness.

At first, the man tried to resist, but gradually realized something was wrong. He knew this drum was no ordinary object and immediately held his sword diagonally before him, his lips moving slightly.

Naturally, because he had to concentrate on resisting the drumbeat, the snowfall temporarily stopped.

Yun Qing laughed as she lay on the ground. “The Sword-Tapping Heart-Clearing Technique…”

The man could no longer afford to worry about exposing his sect’s secrets.

He realized that Jiang Baiyu’s cultivation was beyond his expectations. Seeing that his hope of killing Yun Qing was growing increasingly slim, he lost his desire to continue fighting. While tapping his sword and chanting the Heart-Clearing Technique, he decisively retreated.

After retreating about ten paces, he sensed that Jiang Baiyu had formed a qi barrier across his escape route, but without thinking, he prepared to crash through it.

Then, unexpectedly, he was bounced back!

The man’s expression finally changed dramatically.

A qi barrier, when first formed, was typically a thin layer that could be easily broken through with a bit of cultivation power.

If one wanted to make it thicker, one had to continuously maintain the barrier-forming technique. As time passed, the barrier would grow thicker and more difficult to break.

But most people formed qi barriers only for emergencies and rarely maintained them to make them thicker, as it not only consumed cultivation power but was also extremely distracting.

Especially during a duel between masters, when every move could be fatal, no one would form a qi barrier at such a time.

This Jiang Baiyu had actually formed a thick qi barrier around them while fighting with him. Judging by its thickness, he must have started forming it as soon as the man appeared!

What level of cultivation did he possess?

At this point, the man had lost all will to fight. He suddenly leaped into the air with his sword, planning to escape over the qi barrier.

Jiang Baiyu likewise took to the air, with the Cangye sword on his back. His fingertips quickly drew symbols in the air, creating three talismans at once. When complete, the three talismans were held between his four fingers and simultaneously launched at the man.

Ci Li poked his head out from Fu Xue’s embrace, looking up at the sky, just in time to see this scene. His eyes grew perfectly round, and three small golden shooting stars flashed across his emerald-green pupils.

Finally, he also said, “He was indeed quite good at pretending.”

The man had just dodged the three talismans when another three came his way.

By now, the man was somewhat in disarray. Unable to get over the qi barrier and being hunted down like a cornered dog, he suddenly became angry and brought out a peacock feather.

The peacock feather was a blend of blue and green, splendidly colorful, ethereal and brilliant. He held the feather and shook it lightly, causing blue and green powder to drift down from the feather into the air.

Jiang Baiyu’s voice came from above. “Close your eyes and hold your breath. Everyone.”

What a pity—she could no longer see Baiyu’s handsome figure. Yun Qing felt somewhat regretful as she obediently closed her eyes and held her breath. She had been hanging on by a thread, and now with her eyes closed, she immediately fell into a deep sleep.

****

When she woke up again, Yun Qing felt as if she had been carrying rice sacks at the dock for a hundred years—that exhausted.

Her body had been pushed to its limits. Her bones ached, her head hurt, and her face inexplicably hurt as well. She stared blankly at the pearls decorating the tent ceiling, remembering that her face had indeed been injured.

Because she never got injured normally, it was easy to unconsciously ignore the wound on her face.

She raised her hand to touch the sword wound. It had stopped bleeding by now, and someone had applied an ointment to it—cool and somewhat slippery.

She didn’t know what time it was.

The window was bright, though the room was still somewhat dim. Yun Qing got up from the bed, poured a bowl of tea, and walked to the window, taking a sip as she pushed the window open to look outside.

A rising red sun was hiding behind the begonia flowers, with the morning glow piled like brocade on the horizon.

She left the room and went to the flower hall, standing at the doorway to look inside.

Two people and a cat were sitting in the hall.

The little black cat was standing on its hind legs on the table, one front paw pressing on Cheng Suiyan’s broad shoulder, the other front paw vigorously slapping his face.

While slapping, it cursed, “I’ve told you I don’t eat fish! Don’t eat fish! Don’t eat fish!” With each “don’t eat fish,” it slapped him once.

Cheng Suiyan, being slapped in the face by the cat’s soft paw pads, not only didn’t feel pain but found it amusing, so he didn’t get angry despite being slapped. He said with a smile, “If you don’t eat fish, then I’ll go catch mice for you.”

Ci Li slapped him again several times. “You’re the one who eats mice, your whole family eats mice!”

Fu Xue watched their antics with a grin, then suddenly said to the doorway, “Senior Sister.”

Yun Qing stood with her hands behind her back and smiled. As she smiled, the wound on her face oozed blood, causing a twinge of pain.

She took out a handkerchief and, while walking into the flower hall, carelessly wiped her face, then used a spell to clear the blood stains from the handkerchief.

After entering the hall, she said, “Carry on. I can see Suiyan is quite enjoying himself.”

“Fool,” Ci Li cursed.

Fu Xue, seeing the wound on her senior sister’s face, teared up.

Yun Qing raised an eyebrow. “What’s wrong?”

“Senior Sister, even Baiyu couldn’t heal your face completely. I don’t know if it will leave a scar.”

“It’s not a big deal,” Yun Qing said dismissively. After thinking for a moment, she comforted Fu Xue. “If it really leaves a scar, I’ll get a tattoo there. What do you think I should get?”

Hearing her senior sister speak this way, Fu Xue felt somewhat relieved. She thought for a moment and said, “Maybe a flower, or a beautiful butterfly.”

Cheng Suiyan chimed in. “A sword would work too. It would definitely look fierce.”

Yun Qing nodded. “All good suggestions.”

Ci Li said, “If you ask me, you should get a cockroach. When you fight with someone, your opponent will definitely be distracted by something so disgusting.”

“You little cat, how can your mouth be so venomous? Let me show you my methods.” As Yun Qing spoke, she grinned wickedly and pushed Ci Li onto the table.

“You psycho, what are you doing?!”

“Heh.”

Yun Qing flipped him over and started feeling him all over.

Rubbing his neck, pulling his ears, squeezing his paw pads.

She had wanted to do this for a long time.

Cheng Suiyan and Fu Xue also joined in with grins, and suddenly six hands were fondling him all over. Ci Li raged, “Stop it! Stop it, you jerks! Where are you touching!”

Ci Li had only just recovered some of his cultivation and hadn’t transformed into human form to save energy. Now he wanted to transform but couldn’t—he was lying on the table being manhandled by three people, and suddenly changing into human form would only be more embarrassing.

Jiang Baiyu walked into the flower hall dragging someone, and saw them making a ruckus, with Ci Li so angry he was meowing.

He shook his head with a smile. “Not a trace of seriousness among you.”