Chapter 14 The Fox Shadow on the Lake

In the autumn rain, many bright red feathers of sparrow were dampened by the rain and scattered about. After falling to the ground, the bloody feathers were still spiritual. The surrounding rain was steamed with a hissing noise and the bloody feathers also gradually got cold in the autumn rain. The aura vibrated throughout heaven and earth. The rain all over the city was shattered into pieces under the collision of the sword Qi and the evil Qi, which floated in the autumn wind and turned into the fog all around. The shriek of bird and the humming of sword rang endlessly in the mist, followed by the clang of their collision. Blood Feather was forcibly made to retreat from above the imperial city to above Lake Qifeng by the fierce sword Qi. Over Lake Qifeng, looking from a distance, countless thin threads of sword Qi cut through the fog, as if white rainbows were hanging in the sky. They intertwined with each other and took the shape of a white lotus. At the pistil of the “lotus”, a bit of cold light glittered. The woman in white turned into a beam of sword light and flashed across the sky. Meanwhile, the lotus formed by the sword Qi above the lake crashed instantly and became tiny spots that gathered towards the center and clung onto the woman like particles of light. That scene seemed like thousands of streams flowing into a river and eventually turning into an unstoppable torrent. Blood Feather grimaced repeatedly. Before the sword was condensed, it had been fixed by the sword lock. It finally broke the sword lock with the Blood Sea Resolving Sword Method when the sword formed by the shattered sword lotus had illuminated brightly in front of it. Unable to find any chance to take a breath, it could only flap its wings to stir up the violent storm, which could serve as the cover for it to flee across the lake and get away from the domineering Taoist sword. Where it stirred up the storm, thousands of intangible sword shadows also arose and rushed towards the torrent of sword Qi like swarms of red moths to stop it from going forward. However, these red moths were crushed in an instant. Blood Feather fled quickly against the surface of the lake and the sword light also pursued it closely against the surface of the lake. Where they passed, the lake water roared with waves up to tens of meters high, forming a water wall on the lake that quickly collapsed as they went away. Blood Feather’s eyes turned red. The extremely fierce sword Qi almost pressed against its back and began to roll off its feathers as hard as iron. “Holy crap. Since when the woman of the Oracle Sword Heavenly Sect became so strong...” When the sword Qi was about to catch up with it, it finally couldn’t restrain its anger. It lashed the water with its wings. Then, a water curtain rose between Blood Feather and the sword Qi. When the sword Qi pierced through the water curtain, Blood Feather had already turned around. With luster in its eyes, it gazed at the sword that pierced through the water curtain. At the crucial moment, with the bloody flames, its hook-like claws reached into the white light. The domineering sword Qi finally came to a clear halt at this moment. Wherever they stayed, the waves beneath them caused heaven-shaking noises. The water under them had sunken into an extremely deep hole and meanwhile, a large amount of lake water poured inside from all directions but could not fill it completely. The torrent of sword Qi gradually faded. Amidst the bright sword light, starting from the tip of the sword, a bright long sword finally showed its full appearance slowly. The tip of the sword was only a few inches away from the chest of Blood Feather, and Blood Feather also accurately gripped the sword body with its claws, making it hardly able to charge forward. Even so, the move of the sword still didn’t end, whose great shock pushed against Blood Feather to run backward. At the same time, Blood Feather also kept fluttering wings, stirring up a gust of strong wind to stop the sword from charging forward. Blood Feather gradually slowed down retreating, which meant that the indomitable move of the sword was finally coming to an end. Blood Feather, which held out until now at one fling, finally got a chance to take a breath. It suddenly opened its beak and instantly took in the surrounding air into its body. A sound of clang came from the middle of the lake. The silhouettes of the two finally stopped at a certain moment and stood still on the lake in weird peace. The waves around them gradually subsided after they froze. Blood Feather flapped its wings exhaustedly. Looking at the tip of the sword that had reached its chest but could not stab in, a glimmer of a bitter smile appeared in its eyes. And that sword Qi also, just like the remaining snow evaporated by the heavy sunlight, gradually faded away in the heavy wind and waves. The figure holding the sword stopped for the first time and showed up clearly on the surface of the lake. Holding the sword, the woman stood there, whose sword clothes were like snow with a black belt wrapped around her waist. A jade pendant with the silver ring was also hung at her waist, the red tassel of which was dangling and swaying along with the wind. Her jade cap and silver hairpin were also perfectly in place and her black hair was soft, which was swinging in the wind. And her face was covered with a pure white mask. Only her beautiful eyes with infinite chill and killing intent were exposed. Blood Feather met her eyes. For the moment, it had a feeling that the woman was a cold and ruthless sword. “Half Step Purple Court?” Blood Feather was shocked. The pinnacle of the realm of Long Life was Half Step Purple Court. An immortal with such a realm could set up his own sect in the South Continent regardless. Given her realm, why did she cause trouble for Blood Feather instead of cultivating outside the secular world? Blood Feather sighed in its heart, wondering whether she took it as a chance for her to completely get into the first stage of the realm of Purple Court. The woman looked at it indifferently and slightly leaned aside, her right hand pushing against the sword handle. She was still struggling with Blood Feather. The wind blew her dress backward against the backlashed evil power with a sound of whoosh. The beautiful curve of her body also carried the sharp killing intent now. “Tell me who is behind this assault and I will spare your life.” The woman finally spoke. Her voice was clear and indifferent, without any trace of impurities, which sounded like a crystal jade sword without any dust. Blood Feather laughed wryly and said righteously, “One should answer for what he does himself. Besides, within the South Continent, who can order me? You chick, don’t ever try to trample on my dignity just because you are a bit more capable than me!” The woman looked at it and said indifferently, “You have been restrained, or it would be quite difficult for me to hurt you like this with one move of the sword. Who cast the restraint spell on you? Who on earth are you listening to?” Of course, Blood Feather wouldn’t let go of such a rare chance of taking a breath. While regulating its chaotic evil power within its body, it spoke, “Oh, I think you should thank the one who cast the restraint spell on me. Without the restraint spell, you would definitely be no match for me. Supposedly, you would be beaten by me to flee in panic. How can you still dare to talk to me in such a condescending manner?” The woman only asked aloofly rather than get angry, “You won’t tell me?” Blood Feather laughed wildly and said, “If you put down the sword, kneel down and give me three kowtows, I will consider telling you.” Amidst laughter, Blood Feather flapped its wings suddenly. Instantly, countless red illusory sword feathers swept forward like a wave and its hand holding the sword suddenly twisted, trying to seize the sword. The woman narrowed her eyes slightly. The sword was fighting against Blood Feather and for the moment, she could hardly withdraw it. Hence, she left it behind decisively and rushed backward. Blood Feather laughed and said, “What a meek chick from the Oracle Sword Heavenly Sect! You’ve really left your sword behind. When will you kowtow to me three times? I won’t mind you and me bowing to each other so that we can finish the wedding ceremony…” Blood Feather, which thought it had got its way, suddenly stopped laughing. He was shocked to find that although the woman was flying backward, she made finger gestures before her chest. As a result, the sword feathers that approached her turned into misty sword Qi. The sword Qi converged into a tide, and with the movement of her fingers, the tide just turned around and rushed towards Blood Feather. “Sword and spirit in one? How can there be such a person in the South Continent?” This thought only flashed across its mind and before it had time to think about it, it just left the sword behind and fled. It was counting the time. Although there was still a while before the agreed time with Her Highness, Blood Feather really didn’t dare to continue taking risks. All it wanted to do was escape with all its strength. It firmly believed that if it tried its best to flee, the woman could never catch up with it no matter how skilled she was at her swordsmanship. It was a pity that the wizard patriarch had not yet appeared. It seemed hardly possible to complete the mission assigned by Her Highness. It had just conceived this thought when something unexpected happened again. An antique crutch descended from the sky and lay in front of it, blocking the way like a big pillar. In front of Blood Feather, an old man with gray hair stood on the lake with a book in one hand and a crutch in the other hand, stepping above the roaring lake water. His eyes as turbid as a dead fish were fixed on the escaping giant bird. Solemn and fierce, the eyes contained decades of anger. Decades ago, if it hadn’t been for this evil bird wrecking the imperial city, he could have gone farther on his road to Taoism. However, in order to stabilize his source of Taoism, he had to secure the peace of the city and did his best to fight against the evil bird. In that battle, he was seriously injured that his foundation of Taoism was directly ruined. His smooth road of cultivation also became extremely rugged. Now that he was over 100 years old with grey hair, he could feel that death was approaching. The road of Taoism was indefinite, and death was his only ending. The root of this was Blood Feather. How could he let it go? “Beast!” The old man shouted angrily and threw the crutch at the head of Blood Feather. The sword immortal who had been chasing Blood Feather stopped instead and stared with narrowed eyes at the ancient book in the old man’s hand. However, Blood Feather was not afraid and it had a glint of unusual fierceness in its eyes. When it was young, the wizard patriarch in his prime could only hurt it by conspiracy and tricks. Now, although it was restrained and seriously injured, the wizard patriarch was also old... The light of fire and blood illuminated the lake, shining throughout the rain. Blood Feather roared in a loud voice and rushed forward. The wizard patriarch stood still. He was the one undertaking the fortune of a city, making him represent this ancient city. When the two collided, Blood Feather screamed in pain and its red feathers rustled. Its chest was badly mutilated. The old man was also shaking. The imperial city by the lake was shaking as if stricken by the earthquake. A lot of structurally unstable houses had begun to collapse. Blood Feather stared at him with bloodthirsty pupils. “You have become weaker. If it were not for the magic book, your chest bones would have been all broken.” The wizard patriarch looked at it coldly. Of course, he wouldn’t talk nonsense. He looked at the masked woman standing on the lake with a sword in her hand and shouted, “What are you waiting for?” The woman said, “Let me bring this book back to the mountain and I will kill it for you now.” The wizard patriarch’s expression became stern. “I can’t believe the reputed immortal sect would take advantage of others’ precarious situation.” The woman said, “I know this magic book is the real carrier of the imperial city’s fortune. Our sect will keep it well and secure the peace of the state of Zhao.” “The prosperity or decline of the state of Zhao is only in my hands.” The wizard patriarch sneered and clenched the ancient book more tightly. Instead of looking at the woman, he turned the book to a page and muttered an extremely obscure spell. Blood Feather only felt as if there were thunder in its ears. It was also furious but it didn’t act recklessly. The next moment, the lake water beneath its feet started to sink and it only felt that something intangible and extremely heavy was pressing against its back, forcibly pushing it towards the bottom of the lake. That was the power of a city. Looking at the red-feathered evil sparrow that was trying to resist, the woman heaved a sigh. She swung the sword gently and drew ripples in a circular shape on the turbulent lake. That light move of the sword entailed heavy killing intent. After all, it was her duty to kill the evil during this trip. Whether the wizard patriarch agreed to her term, she would draw out her sword anyway. At that moment, Blood Feather truly felt cold all over its body. How could it escape this attack under the pressure of a city’s fortune? At this moment, in the imperial city, the bell happened to ring. It was the toll for noon. Blood Feather got excited. The toll for noon denoted the agreed time with Her Highness. It should only stall the time until now! Now it was the time! Why didn’t anything happen in the imperial city yet? Could it be that the girl had planned to treat itself as an abandoned pawn? If so... It felt miserably hopeless. The sword behind its back was about to land but it couldn’t have any strength to fight back. Zhao Xiang’er! It would never let go… Before it finished cursing spitefully in its heart, a gust of sword Qi hit its back. It vomited blood and fell into the lake but it felt so surprised to find that the move of the sword was much lighter than it had imagined. It seemed to have sensed something. Then it turned around suddenly only to find that the masked sword immortal had turned her head instead of looking at it. The wizard patriarch who had a deep feud with Blood Feather didn’t gaze at it now. It found that on the lake, a figure formed by flames appeared unknowingly. It was hard to tell the shape of the flame, which resembled the twisted electricity or a weird eye. As soon as that figure appeared, it felt deeply feared. It seemed to be born with the fear, which seemingly came from the depth of its blood, even greater than the fatal strike just now. However, it did not hesitate because of this abnormal change. As a bird, it did not fly upwards, which was too eye-catching. Instead, it plunged directly into the lake. It didn’t matter what kind of demon the unexpected visitor was, Blood Feather only wanted to take the opportunity to run for its life. It was swallowed by the darkness at the bottom of the lake. It had a chance to become the king of evil in the South Continent before. Now, seriously injured, it was urging its last power to flee towards the depths of the darkness in embarrassment.