Chapter 85: The Killing Intent

After joining forces with Zhuo Jin’er to slay Sima Yan, the master of the Seven Absolutes Sect, Qi Fei feared the arrival of the martial grandmaster Chu Yanran and hastily fled Cangyun Mountain.

They sped on their way without catching any trace of Chu Yanran, which greatly eased Qi Fei’s heart. With a quick thought, he made his way to a village not far from Cangyun Mountain, where he retrieved several bottles of spiritual pills he had buried before returning to his sect that day.

In the chaos of that day, Qi Fei had consumed a large quantity of spiritual pills from the Pill Cauldron Sect. The medicines gifted to him by his master, the Bloodshadow True Lord, were now of little use to him. Yet for the Danxia Sect, which had just survived a great calamity, these energy-gathering pills and healing elixirs were treasures beyond price.

Before ever meeting the Bloodshadow True Lord, Qi Fei, then merely an apprentice herbalist, had often accompanied his sect companions to distant parts of Yong Prefecture to gather herbs. The Marquis of Martial Might’s residence was situated in Huaiyang, the wealthiest and most prosperous of Yong Prefecture’s nine regions. Qi Fei tucked the pills into his robe and, following the main road, moved with the speed and grace of a practiced martial artist toward the city of Huaiyang.

By dusk, Qi Fei arrived at the foot of the city’s grand and imposing walls. Using the marquis’s token, which Chu Qingyun had gifted him, he gained entrance without incident.

In the past months, the Great Zhou Dynasty had welcomed a new emperor; the royal clan’s martial saint had emerged from seclusion to preside over the capital, and the chaos throughout the land was gradually subsiding. Years before, the Marquis of Martial Might had crushed the waves of refugees flooding into the nine regions of Yong Prefecture with thunderous ruthlessness.

Though the city had endured years of war, Huaiyang’s streets were lined with tea houses and wine shops, extravagant gambling halls where fortunes were lost in a night, and opulent pleasure houses, all painting a scene of bustling prosperity.

After entering the city, Qi Fei was about to ask a passerby for directions to the Marquis’s residence when he suddenly sensed a terrifying aura of a martial expert not far behind him.

Now a master of the innate stage himself, Qi Fei’s innate spiritual sense—sharpened by his twin martial souls of ice and fire—was wide open. The pressure emanating from this presence was so intense that it made him tremble with unease.

Could it be that the moment he set foot in Huaiyang, one of the city’s top martial experts had already marked him?

When entering, he had revealed the marquis’s token, prompting the city guards to receive him with honor. If this were truly someone from the marquis’s household, why would he feel such murderous intent? Moreover, there were only a handful of martial experts in all nine regions of Yong Prefecture capable of exerting such pressure—could it really be Chu Yanran, the martial grandmaster?

In the crowded marketplace, Qi Fei’s heart raced, but he turned around without betraying his alarm. Standing in the distance was none other than Chu Yanran herself, who had been cultivating in seclusion at Moonwatch Peak.

She was a beauty cold as frost, her eyes harboring a murderous intent that unsettled Qi Fei’s spirit.

As Zhuo Jin’er had warned, he had indeed been targeted by Chu Yanran. Since this martial grandmaster could lock onto his aura and track him from Cangyun Mountain, escaping her now would be no easy feat.

“Miss Chu, are you here for me?” Qi Fei asked calmly, looking at her.

Chu Yanran nodded slowly. “To be precise, I am here to kill you.”

Qi Fei’s expression hardened. He glanced around at the bustling street, his voice tinged with doubt. “Here, in the open?”

Chu Yanran hesitated, frowning. “If you don’t wish to endanger these innocent civilians, follow me outside the city for our duel.”

“Since you’ve been watching me all along, why not intercept me outside the city? Why reveal yourself here in Huaiyang?” Qi Fei’s mind raced. There was something strange about Chu Yanran choosing this moment to strike.

Her expression remained unreadable. “I promised Sima Yan I would fight you, but I didn’t expect to act so soon.”

“Then why do you want to kill me?” Qi Fei thought of the odd look Chu Yanran had shared with Chu Qingyun in the main hall at Qingyang Peak, and of Zhuo Jin’er’s words about her estrangement from the Marquis of Martial Might. Was it because he had entered the city using the marquis’s token that she now wished him dead?

Chu Yanran’s tone was icy. “Today in Cangyun Mountain, Sima Yan was slain by demonic arts. I followed the trail here, and you cannot be innocent. I will not allow a demon-cultivating villain like you to bring disaster upon the Chu clan.”

If he were facing an ordinary innate-stage martial artist today, Qi Fei would be confident in his chances. But against a martial grandmaster wielding the divine weapon Starshatter Sword, he stood no chance.

Thinking quickly, he raised the marquis’s token. “Miss Chu, you are mistaken. Sima Yan did not die by my hand, and I have never practiced demonic arts. If that were the case, I would not have escaped the Daoist secret arts at Cloud Sky Temple. I used this token only to enter the city and visit a friend—I have no connection to the Marquis’s household.”

Chu Yanran snorted. “Don’t try to deceive me. No doubt Qingyun saw your strange martial prowess and sought to recruit you, gifting you the marquis’s token. You must have come here to seek his protection from disaster, which would drag you into the Chu family’s internal strife.”

So she suspected him of cultivating demonic arts and feared that if he sided with Chu Qingyun, it would plunge the family into chaos. Qi Fei could only smile bitterly. Was he truly doomed to fight this peerless grandmaster today?

By now, even the townsfolk of Huaiyang were sensing something amiss. Ordinary people could not discern the depth of Chu Yanran’s or Qi Fei’s cultivation, but the chilling aura radiating from them made everyone keep their distance.

Qi Fei grew anxious. If he delayed any longer, she might attack without restraint. In desperation, he came up with a plan and said loudly, “Miss Chu, once again: Sima Yan’s death has nothing to do with me. Moreover, the master of the Seven Absolutes Sect only gave you the sect’s spiritual vein for your cultivation. Chu Qingyun is your kin—why torment me over the life and death of an outsider?”

Chu Yanran’s face changed dramatically. “How do you know about that?”

Qi Fei feigned panic. “I… uh…”

“If you do not explain yourself, do not blame me for being merciless.”

He spread his hands in helplessness, managing a bitter smile. “You’ve already said you’re here to kill me. Dead is dead—there’s no need for threats, Miss Chu.”

Though her martial arts were unfathomable and her intellect keen, Chu Yanran’s cold nature had always kept her isolated, especially since moving to Moonwatch Peak. In a battle of words, she was no match for the likes of Qi Fei.

“You dare mock me?” Murder gleamed in her eyes as her innate energy surged, unleashing a crushing pressure.

The merchants and pedestrians around them, sensing her overwhelming martial aura, turned pale. Brawls between masters were not unknown in Huaiyang, but never had they felt such a terrifying presence. In an instant, panic swept the marketplace, people scattering in chaos.

Seeing the turmoil, Chu Yanran cursed Qi Fei’s sharp tongue for disturbing her composure. She had hesitated when Sima Yan had asked her to kill him in exchange for the sect’s spiritual vein—but this scoundrel was so infuriating that today she would make him pay with his life.

As she drew the Starshatter Sword, ready to strike, Qi Fei looked past her with a look of shock.

“Ah! My lord Marquis?”

Chu Yanran started in surprise. How had she not sensed another presence? Had someone else reached the pinnacle of martial cultivation?

She turned slightly, wary of a sneak attack. In that instant, Qi Fei activated the Bloodshadow Escape Technique, his figure flickering into a phantom and vanishing from the marketplace.

Chu Yanran was taken aback. This was the same Qi Fei who had slain the Daoist prodigy of Xuan Zhen Temple and whose exploits had shaken all nine regions of Yong Prefecture. Even if her divine skills deterred him from battle, she had not expected him to be so craven!

A martial master of his standing resorting to such underhanded tricks—and she, caught off guard by such a petty ruse!

Shameless!

Chu Yanran could never have imagined that Qi Fei, lacking all martial pride, would not only flee but also dare distract her with such a lowly ploy before escaping.

She stamped her foot and shouted, “Scoundrel! You have no shame!”

Qi Fei knew that to face this martial grandmaster armed with a divine weapon would be suicide. Better to live and fight another day. Once he obtained the Frost Soul Blade, he could challenge her—and the hidden injuries she bore from Zhuo Jin’er’s schemes—on more equal terms.

“Reputation is but a passing cloud. Miss Chu, let us settle this another day.”

His wild laughter echoed from afar as Chu Yanran, furious, bit her lip, her frosty beauty marred by a flash of anger.

“You think you can escape so easily? Not a chance.”