He continued, “Its natural state is transparent. If not for your Yin Yang An, which was forged using the fire of yin and yang, Chang Xiang Si wouldn’t have reacted, and you wouldn’t have seen it.”
Huo Xiao Di said slowly, “So, this Chang Xiang Si is indeed an extraordinary weapon, but it must take someone truly formidable from Han Shui Palace to wield it.”
Zhan Ri Fei nodded. “Exactly. This weapon originally belonged to the Moonlight Emissary, one of the four great emissaries under the Grandmother of Han Shui.”
Huo Xiao Di rested his chin on his hand and gazed at the moonlight spread across the ground, clearly lost in thought. In the interplay of moonlight and firelight, something seemed to flicker in his eyes.
He remained silent for a long time before finally lifting his head.
“There are many things I still don’t fully understand, but don’t think I haven’t figured some of it out.”
— “I must ask you: Why did you shield me from the people of Han Shui Palace?”
— “Those two you protected me from—who exactly are they within Han Shui Palace?”
— “We agreed to owe each other nothing, yet you diverted me to deal with the Hua brothers. Was it because you already knew I couldn’t handle those two from Han Shui Palace?”
— “You yourself could have dealt with the Hua brothers, couldn’t you?”
Zhan Ri Fei seemed caught off guard by the question. Instead of directly answering, he smiled faintly and said, “Perhaps I already anticipated that I’d need your help many times in the future.”
Huo Xiao Di said, “That reason doesn’t seem very convincing.”
Zhan Ri Fei unexpectedly admitted, “You’re right. It’s not very convincing.”
Huo Xiao Di continued, “Good thing I just helped remove the fragment of Chang Xiang Si from your back. Does that mean I no longer owe you anything?”
Zhan Ri Fei asked, “Huo, are you suggesting—?”
Huo Xiao Di interrupted him. “I’m saying that your wound is still bleeding.”
As he spoke, he extended his hand, seemingly intending to help stop the bleeding and cover Zhan Ri Fei’s torn clothing.
But at some point, that outstretched hand turned into a pointed finger!
Zhan Ri Fei suddenly felt a sharp numbness in his back. A barely perceptible yet silent force, as fine as a thread of silk, shot through his body like lightning. Unable to hold himself upright any longer, he collapsed to the ground.
— Who had attacked him?
— And why?
Even as Zhan Ri Fei fell, he already knew the answer. The answer was as obvious as lice on a bald man’s head; even without seeing it, he could deduce it effortlessly.
— “Like a spring dream, fleeting and ephemeral; like morning clouds, impossible to trace.” These two lines of poetry described the two supreme martial arts of Ling Long Manor: the internally focused “Whisper of Flowers Heard Overnight in the Tower” and the externally directed “Glimpse of the Soaring Phoenix”.
— Even if he couldn’t immediately identify the finger technique as stemming from the internal energy of “Whisper of Flowers Heard Overnight in the Tower”, the evidence was undeniable. Beyond the exquisite deerskin boots on Huo Xiao Di’s feet, another item had entered his field of vision.
— Huo Xiao Di’s Yin Yang An was now pointed at his throat!
The Yin Yang An let out a faint sound, almost like a sigh. Its black blade shimmered ominously in the firelight, resembling the grin of a dark demon. That demon’s presence was already pressing painfully against Zhan Ri Fei’s throat.
Huo Xiao Di’s voice came from above, distant and aloof, as though he were sighing.
“You should never, never have let me see your back.”
As he said this, his tone turned harsh, though his hand inexplicably began to tremble.
— “Who are you, really?”
— “Is your goal also the Chang Hong Bi?”
Unknowingly, his voice had risen sharply. Zhan Ri Fei, eyes half-closed, remained eerily calm, though fatigue and pain had left him temporarily unable to speak.
— “Why won’t you answer?”
Huo Xiao Di’s demand echoed sharply, as if it sought to pierce through the tense silence.
At that moment, a hoarse voice, halting and fragmented like a child learning to speak, came from near the fire: “You—you—!”
Even though Zhan Ri Fei was restrained by Huo Xiao Di, he had remained composed, even with the Yin Yang An poised at his throat, ready to cut at any moment. But as soon as he heard the weak, raspy voice, a glimmer of light flashed in his eyes, and for the first time, his expression changed.
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