Carrying a Knife in the Rainy Night Without an Umbrella

Snow began to fall again, unnoticed.

Like goose feathers, the heavy snowflakes drifted down, silently covering every corner of Kongxuan Mountain. This solitary peak suspended above a sea of clouds grew even more desolate and cold.

Yun Xi watched from afar as one familiar figure after another departed.

In the end, only three remained in this not-so-large Yin-Yang Sect.

And Yun Yao, escorted by Yun Ying, gradually disappeared at the end of the mountain path, merging into the vast expanse of night.

Only after her disciple could no longer be seen did Yun Xi withdraw her gaze.

The wind and snow stirred the strands of hair at her temples, but she seemed not to notice. She merely tightened her thin robe and, speaking to the empty courtyard, said in a clear, cold voice:

"So letting my disciple leave like that doesn't exactly match the style of your Blade Sect."

As her words fell, a figure emerged like a specter from the shadows of the courtyard corner.

The man was dressed entirely in black, nearly blending into the night. If not for the faint outline of his shadow cast by the snow on the ground, he would have been almost impossible to detect.

Under the moonlight, he raised his head, revealing a gaunt face, and let out a dry, rasping laugh. In the wind and snow, that laugh sounded especially eerie.

Yun Xi's brow furrowed almost imperceptibly.

So he hadn't come himself?

What could be so important that he'd set aside killing her for a later time?

"He sent you? You think you're enough to kill me?"

"My master has other matters to attend to."

The black-clad man bared his teeth in a silent smile. The grin carried a hint of mockery, like a cat toying with a mouse.

"Ah, but Sect Leader Yun, what are you saying? What's all this about style or no style?"

"As for your sect's disciples, my junior brother will see to them."

"As for dealing with you..."

The man extended his right hand, fingers spread wide, and a sleek silver blade materialized in his palm.

He gave it a casual swing, producing a sharp whistling sound in the air.

"I alone am more than enough."

Yun Xi's gaze turned icy cold in an instant. The weariness that had clung to her brows and eyes vanished, replaced by a fierce, killing intent.

"This is a grudge between us."

"What do my disciples have to do with it?!"

"Heh heh heh..." The man let out a strange, distorted laugh that didn't sound human at all. "Blame yourself for taking them in."

"If you hadn't accepted them, they wouldn't have to die, would they?"

"So it's you who's killing them, not our Blade Sect!"

Yun Xi looked at him, her eyes filled with undisguised disgust.

"You people of the Blade Sect reek of filth, now as always!"

The man didn't seem angered at all. Still wearing that smug grin, he toyed with his silver blade and said slowly, "Sect Leader Yun, you're a remnant of the Thousand Illusions Sect, aren't you?"

"I've long heard that the Thousand Illusions Sect's 'Eight Gates of Mirage' is unpredictable in its transformations. That's exactly why you slipped through the net back then."

"Well, today you can be my whetstone."

"Enough talk!"

Yun Xi's voice was as cold as ice.

She knew that since the man had been so bold as to speak openly, there was no chance of settling this peacefully.

On top of that, an expert was now hunting down her disciples!

She had no time to waste trading words with this mad dog.

Her cultivation at the Void Refinement Realm erupted in full force!

A surge of overwhelming energy radiated outward from her center, blasting the snow from the courtyard into the air and revealing the grey stone pavers beneath.

With her bare feet, she lightly tapped the icy stone.

The next moment, her slender, graceful figure shot forward like an arrow released from a bow, charging straight at the black-clad man with murderous intent!

It was blindingly fast!

"Eight Gates of Mirage" might sound like some kind of trapping and killing formation technique.

But not.

Every cultivator in the world knew that the simplest way to break a formation was to shatter its core, the weakest point of any great array.

The Thousand Illusions Sect's "Eight Gates of Mirage" had remedied this fatal weakness.

Use the body as the formation!

This technique demanded absurdly high strength from the practitioner. Once mastered, every move they made became part of the array, their killing methods shifting unpredictably and eerily.

If Yun Xi could close the distance, even bare-handed, she could tear apart an ordinary cultivator of the same cultivation level.

Unfortunately.

Her opponent this time was from the infamous Blade Sect.

The Heart-Severing Blade Sect.

Their reputation thundered across the Canghuang Realm.

Among the great sects, a widely circulated proverb had long been repeated:

"A line between heaven and earth; rain falls without a sound."

But that reputation was... complicated.

Disciples of the Heart-Severing Blade Sect, upon entering, were required to descend from the mountain for a trial. But that trial wasn't about slaying demons or seeking treasures.

No.

It was to fall in love.

Only after they truly loved someone and experienced the taste of romantic affection could they return to the sect and continue their cultivation.

And when their cultivation hit a bottleneck, stuck for a long time without breaking through...

They would descend the mountain again.

Find the person they had once deeply loved.

Then...

Choose a rainy night.

Go into that rain—with a blade, but without an umbrella.

One slash.

Sever it.

In exchange for breaking through their bottleneck by cutting off their deepest emotional ties.

Thus, the blades of the Heart-Severing Blade Sect were the most ruthless, the most lethal.

Facing Yun Xi's lightning-fast attack, the black-clad man didn't retreat. Instead, he let out a savage laugh, crouched slightly, and raised his silver blade with a sharp howl, meeting her charge head-on!

He had no fear of close combat with Yun Xi.

But.

Just as the blade was about to clash with her silhouette...

Yun Xi's figure twisted midair in an incredibly strange motion, dodging that breathtaking slash by an impossibly narrow margin at an angle that defied reason.

Then.

A spark of spiritual light burst forth from her brow!

In a flash, a faint, somewhat hazy shadow identical to Yun Xi stepped out of her body and appeared before the black-clad man in the space of a heartbeat!

This was a power unique to cultivators of the Void Refinement Realm!

Refining the soul from the Nascent Soul into reality!

Forging a primal spirit!

Yun Xi's physical body turned, evading the blade's edge.

But her primal spirit, without a hint of fear, drove a palm strike straight toward the black-clad man!