Guo Hongyao surged forward on flames. Though the white-robed youth before her was lacking in cultivation, his escape light was surprisingly fast. Perhaps he had taken some spiritual pill, it would explain why she couldn’t catch up to him for the moment.
"Run... run!" She felt exhilarated as she rode fire all the way. Li Xijun traveled ahead on frost, deep in thought, She’s certainly no weakling. At the very least, this speed is beyond the norm.
Li Xijun had rushed ahead and, as expected, ran into the two of them, confirming his guess. Now, after flying dozens of kilometers, he noticed Guo Hongyao was still chasing relentlessly, drawing ever closer. He thought to himself, She seems to have been thrown off completely. It's not likely that she will be hiding any tricks...
He slowly reached for Han Lin at his waist. The frost under his feet began to dissipate, and his speed slowed as he let the scorching Merging Fire behind creep closer until its heat stung his back. Suddenly, Li Xijun spun around and drew his sword.
Clang!
A streak of white light flared above the sea. Han Lin’s blade was so fast that it blurred through the air. There was a flash of bright white frost emanating from his strike, like a gust of pine-laced winter wind and falling snow rushing straight forward.
Guo Hongyao was caught off guard, seeing only a handful of snow flying toward her. She couldn’t even tell whether it was sword light or dharma light. The piercing chill swept over her, and she blankly thought, A talisman?
The command token in Guo Hongyao’s hand was no ordinary item, and its instinct to protect its master acted faster than she could. The stored Merging Fire burst forth, drawing her mana into it and forming a gray wall of fire in front of her.
But she was only a meter away from Li Xijun. Even Chi Zhiyun and Li Chejing, both sword essence cultivators, maintained the distance of a meter in battle. Purple Mansion Realm cultivators would retreat three meters before Shangyuan.
Yet Guo Hongyao stood only a meter from a sword cultivator who had formed sword essence. Han Lin could practically reach her hem. The hasty wall of Merging Fire was completely useless. Han Lin’s true blade sliced clean through it, cleaving it in half. Her eyes were filled with dazzling white snow, then she felt a chill on her neck.
Pffft!
Blood gushed from her neck as Guo Hongyao’s pupils dilated and her elegant neck was severed in a single stroke. Crimson blood sprayed along the sword for a moment before curling back and pouring into the wound.
Buzz!
The sword had come too quickly. The treasure on Guo Hongyao’s body hadn’t even reacted. Her head had already left her neck by the time the jade pearl protecting her body finally activated its mana to deflect the sword.
The shock and panic in Guo Hongyao’s eyes had yet to fade when Li Xijun’s sword technique reversed. Three strands of snowy light slipped out of the blade, drifting and gliding toward her.
The three nimble, cunning streaks of snow darted toward her Qihai, Shenyang, and Juque acupoints. Though Guo Hongyao’s head was still suspended midair, she managed to react, shoving her long command token forward to block.
She bit down on her lip, causing blood to stain silver teeth and then transform into gray fire that was carried forward with her breath. This gray fire was several times denser than before. Its aura was overwhelming as it surged toward the three streaks of sword light.
But the Threefold Moonlight was inherently agile and cunning. It deftly dodged the gray fire and clashed with her life-preserving protective light with a metallic ring. The sounds of shattering snow and ice rang out repeatedly, and the jade pearl at her neck flickered erratically.
"Thank goodness!"
In the end, it was Guo Hongyao’s lineage that saved her life. Sword Essence grade Threefold Moonlight could already destroy most spells, yet the life-saving treasure gifted to Crimson Reef Island’s direct descendants withstood it, and still had energy to spare.
Guo Hongyao finally had the chance to reattach her head. Frost and Merging Fire hissed into white steam where neck and body met. The gray fire spiraling from her token coiled around her neck, fixing her head in place.
"Damn it!"
Only now did Guo Hongyao belatedly realize her fortune as she realised that Li Xijun practiced Cold Essence. Had he used metal or earth techniques instead, she would never have had the chance to restore her head.
Hatred rose in her eyes. She reached quickly for the storage pouch at her waist, but a question suddenly rose in her mind, He gave me so much time to react... What is he doing?
Her spiritual sense was fully engaged in using gray fire to fend off the three sword-essence-like streaks, so she could only stare blankly with her eyes.
Snow blanketed the sea. Before her, the white-robed man held his sword at an angle. The slender, snow-like blade radiated blinding brilliance. Snowflakes drifted down from the sky, each striking her protective barrier with a crisp clang, like rain on tiles. The three streaks of sword light darted like fish in water, flickering in and out among the storm of snow and sword aura.
But she no longer had the strength to deal with the three streaks. Li Xijun’s sword had already fallen. Guo Hongyao’s trembling hand gripped a talisman, but her vision was pure white. She could see nothing, there was only an intense, and drifting whiteness.
Half the mana had already entered her talisman when a sword light erupted from her Shenyang Mansion, interrupting the mana flow. The half-activated talisman remained in her palm, faintly glowing.
She felt a chill pulse through her chest. The sounds around her shattered into fragments as the tip of Han Lin slid between her brows, freezing her so thoroughly that she trembled. Her consciousness started slowly fading away.
Blood flowed from her mouth and nose, but showed no sign of transforming into Merging Fire. It slid down her fair cheek as Li Xijun stood exactly a meter away, white robes fluttering. As her vision dimmed, Guo Hongyao suddenly realized where she had gone wrong.
I shouldn’t have hastily reattached my head... I should’ve fled first instead... thought Guo Hongyao.