Firmament Sword

”Really?” Xu Luo was a little skeptical.

”Cross my heart!” Lianyi smiled, leaned in, and planted a light kiss on Xu Luo’s cheek. Then, her face flushed red as she said, ”Come on, let’s go. Bingyu will start to worry.”

The two had lived together for so long that they understood each other perfectly. Xu Luo was certain something was on Lianyi’s mind. But he also knew her well enough to know that if she didn’t want to talk, prying would be useless.

He could only temporarily suppress his worries. Looking at Lianyi’s crimson cheeks, Xu Luo laughed. ”Sis, that was too half-hearted. I barely felt a thing. Not nearly serious enough...”

”You brat, you’re getting cheeky!” Lianyi’s cheeks were flushed as she playfully chided him. Then, using the Shaking Light Step, she dashed ahead and called back with a charming laugh, ”Come and catch me... my Shaking Light Step has improved a lot, you know!”

Her figure was graceful, like a fairy gliding over the waves, and in a flash, only her retreating back remained.

”I was the one who taught you the Shaking Light Step. Are you trying to show off to your teacher?” Xu Luo laughed. With a flicker of his body, he vanished from the spot.

At the very front, Ji Bingyu’s face was flushed and her heart was pounding. ’Honestly,’ she muttered under her breath, ’acting like I don’t even exist... So shameless, being all affectionate in public! How infuriating!’

But for some reason, a faint pang of bitterness bloomed in her heart.

Ever since Lianyi returned to the Celestial Cauldron Sect, Ji Bingyu had always looked up to her as an older sister. The two had grown very close in a short amount of time.

Now, suddenly discovering that her ”sister” actually had a sweetheart made Ji Bingyu feel as if someone close to her was being stolen away. She felt a little dejected, and at the same time, deep down, she also felt a touch of envy toward Lianyi.

Her reputation in the Celestial Cauldron Sect was immense, and her demeanor had always been as cold as ice. Consequently, hardly any young male disciples dared to approach her. While many of the older senior brothers admired their beautiful and talented junior sister, most could only harbor secret crushes, never finding the courage to confess.

The few who were bold enough to confess to Ji Bingyu were met with stern rejection. Devoted to her martial path, the young woman was completely oblivious to matters of the heart. She had no concept of romance whatsoever.

Rejection... was simply Ji Bingyu’s most basic instinct.

Besides, none of the senior brothers who confessed to her had ever truly caught her eye.

So, even to this day, Ji Bingyu remained clueless about love between men and women, still just a naive young girl. It was only after spending so much time with Lianyi and hearing her talk about the secular world that she had begun to understand a little.

Before, if she had seen such an intimate moment between Lianyi and Xu Luo, she would have been furious, assuming that Sister Lianyi didn’t like her anymore...

The reason Xu Luo had just happened to find Lianyi was that he hadn’t seen Phoenix at their meeting spot. While searching everywhere for her, he had stumbled upon Lianyi and Ji Bingyu by chance.

As for Phoenix’s whereabouts, Xu Luo had a guess. With her proud and competitive personality, facing so many peerless geniuses from other sects must have been a huge blow to her pride.

Given her refusal to admit defeat, she would definitely have gone off to find her own opportunities after entering the Small World.

Although he was a little worried, Xu Luo understood that everyone has their own path to walk. One could rely on others for a time, but not for a lifetime. In the end, Xu Luo decided to respect Phoenix’s wishes and let her venture out on her own.

Besides, Phoenix had Master Mao and the giant eagle with her. Xu Luo had previously instructed Master Mao to protect Phoenix in secret.

With them around, as long as she didn’t run into any of the Holy Beast bloodlines within the Small World, she generally wouldn’t be in any major danger.

Xu Luo also considered Huangfu Shishi’s safety, but it seemed the Kaiyang Sect valued her greatly. They surely wouldn’t let her fall into a perilous situation.

What surprised Xu Luo somewhat this time after entering the Small World was running into the tomboy Lin Luo, whom he had once met in Black Wind Town.

This time, Xu Luo also heard her real name from others—Lin Luoxue.

He had brushed past Lin Luoxue in the marketplace, but she had pretended not to know him. The tomboy he remembered wasn’t that kind of person. After all, the Storage Ring he wore on his hand was a gift from her.

This was no ordinary ring. The space inside it expanded as its owner’s strength grew; it was definitely a Magical Artifact.

’She gave me something so valuable,’ he thought. ’How could she pretend not to know me when we met again?’

But then he thought of Lin Luoxue’s quirky and mischievous nature and couldn’t help but shake his head and laugh. ’If I actually get angry at her, I’d be the one who loses. She must have a reason why it’s inconvenient to acknowledge me.’

With these thoughts in mind, Xu Luo hurried alongside Lianyi toward the direction of the recurring roars. Up ahead, Ji Bingyu’s figure flickered in and out of sight, not too far away.

The closer Xu Luo’s group got to where the roars had come from, the more they could feel the tense atmosphere in the air.

Lingering ripples of energy in the air and the wreckage strewn across the mountain pass below all indicated that a fierce battle had just taken place here.

”Who could it have been?” Ji Bingyu stood ahead, waiting for Xu Luo and Lianyi. In reality, they had all arrived at nearly the same time.

Xu Luo observed their surroundings carefully for a moment, then sensed the energy fluctuations in the air. ”It looks like the tracks were made by one of those enormous beasts from earlier,” he said.

”Earlier?” Ji Bingyu glanced at Xu Luo, puzzled. ”You mean that giant black tiger and the golden bird? You were there?”

Lianyi also looked at Xu Luo in surprise. She remembered thinking about saving her peach for him when she and Ji Bingyu were dividing them, but the situation at the time hadn’t allowed for it.

And that was the truth. The moment she and Ji Bingyu left, Gu Xing and his group had immediately followed. If they hadn’t run into Xu Luo, and if they hadn’t eaten the peaches right away, they would have surely lost them.

But bringing it up now, Lianyi still felt she had let Xu Luo down. Whenever he was around, she always saved the best for him.

Xu Luo, however, wasn’t thinking along those lines at all. Never mind that the entire Chaos Peach Tree was now in his possession; even if he had gotten nothing, he would never have taken the one from Lianyi’s hands.

So, Xu Luo flashed a grin at Ji Bingyu. ”Bingyu, how did that Chaos Peach taste? Pretty good, huh?”

”You... you saw everything?” Ji Bingyu suddenly felt a pang of guilt, and her face flushed red. It wasn’t for any other reason; it was because those two Chaos Peaches were the very ones that the Shaking Light Sect’s genius disciple, Gu Xing, had risked life and limb to pick. In the end, he couldn’t keep them, and they had ended up with her and Lianyi.

Ji Bingyu, who had never done anything to warrant a guilty conscience, could be cold and unyielding when facing Gu Xing’s group. But when she was with her own people, she truly felt a little ashamed.

Although that guilt had been minimized by the behavior of Gu Xing, Jiang Tianhai, and the others, a trace of it still remained.

Lianyi felt even more apologetic toward Xu Luo. She lowered her head and whispered, ”Xu Luo, I’m sorry. The situation at the time...”

”Sis, why are you apologizing? Why didn’t those two peaches fall in front of someone else? They just happened to fall right in front of you, didn’t they?” Xu Luo said with a smile. ”That just proves that this opportunity was meant for the two of you. Besides, you don’t have to feel like you went too far. If it were them, they would have been even more ruthless.”

Lianyi smiled faintly and glanced at Xu Luo with gratitude. She knew he was trying to enlighten the simple-minded and hopelessly naive Ji Bingyu.

Xu Luo continued, then chuckled and said, ”What’s more... it’s just two peaches.”

As he spoke, as if by a magic trick, two Chaos Peaches shimmering with purple light appeared in his hand. Their enticing fragrance washed over them, whetting their appetites.

Lianyi and Ji Bingyu stared, dumbstruck. Ji Bingyu exclaimed in astonishment, ”How do you have those? Didn’t Gu Xing only manage to pick two? The Peach Tree disappeared right after that. When did you pick them?”

Lianyi’s eyes sparkled. After two years apart, her ”little brother” had grown to a point where she had to look up to him.

Gu Xing had sacrificed two priceless Magical Artifacts and couldn’t even keep a single Peach of Immortality. But here was Xu Luo, casually pulling out two as if they were common fruit. ’Doesn’t he know how valuable these things are?’

Though she and Ji Bingyu were as close as sisters, at this moment, Lianyi truly felt a little resentful toward Xu Luo. ’He should have kept such treasures for himself. Why did he have to take them out?’

”I picked them from that tree, of course,” Xu Luo said with a sly grin. He casually tossed them, and two streaks of purple light carrying a heart-refreshing fragrance flew toward the two women.

Ji Bingyu and Lianyi caught them instinctively and then froze. Ji Bingyu in particular was flustered, holding a Chaos Peach that could drive the upper echelons of the major sects into a frenzy as she stared at Xu Luo.

”Xu Luo... what are you doing? Do you know how valuable these peaches are? Take them back, don’t joke around. We have major sects backing us, we aren’t short on resources. You, on the other hand, need something like this more than we do,” Lianyi said with a serious expression, about to hand the peach back to him.

Seeing that Lianyi was refusing, Ji Bingyu felt even more embarrassed to accept. She also held out the Chaos Peach to Xu Luo and said, ”Sister Lianyi is right. You need this more than we do.”

Xu Luo gave Lianyi a helpless look and said, ”It’s just two peaches, what’s all the fuss? If you want more, I have plenty!”

”Huh?” Lianyi and Ji Bingyu were completely stunned. They stared at Xu Luo in disbelief.

Lianyi lifted her increasingly elegant and beautiful face to look at Xu Luo. ”Did you rob the tree?”

Ji Bingyu nodded vigorously beside her.

Xu Luo just smiled and said, ”Just eat them. Why worry about so much?” Inwardly, he thought: ’Not exactly, but not far off, either.’

Lianyi was about to say something more when a loud roar suddenly echoed from the distance: ”Little girl, let go of that peach in your hand and give it to me!”