Questioning Heaven, Desiring the Way - Chapter 105

“Ah!” A frantic cry came from the supposedly empty space.

Ripples appeared in the air as a human-shaped object dodged the oncoming sword qi, which hit the ground and kicked up a large cloud of fallen leaves and dust.

“Come out!” Gu Suihan stared curiously at the cloud of dust, and a cruel glint lit up his eyes.

“Ow…” an aggrieved voice winced as the figure slowly went from being transparent to gaining shape, revealing a young girl in her early teens.

“A sword qi extinguishing talisman.” Gu Suihan raised an eyebrow as he stared at the item in the hands of the girl with a pale and tear-stained face. The silvery glow around the somewhat mysterious-looking talisman was a little dull, and there was a large tear in the paper. This talisman was going to become worthless after a few more uses.

This sort of thing was usually made by an elder of a sect in their free time and given to their favorite disciples or subordinates to protect themselves. Based on the way the talisman was made and the aura it exuded, this talisman was probably made by a cultivator at Origin Core. In other words, this young lady was someone pretty important.

Gu Suihan’s gaze slowly moved to look up at the absolutely terrified face of the girl. He noticed her familiar clothing, and an evil smile spread across his lips. “So, who was that man to you?”

His voice was gentle and even sounded a little adoring and concerned for her. That is if you ignored that expressionless face of his and that black cloak of his that seemed to exude a bloodthirstiness and a murderous aura. If you only heard his voice, he sounded like an older brother asking after his younger sister.

“He’s…he’s my senior brother.” The girl looked at the strange young man in front of her and took two steps backward instinctively. She trembled as she sniffled and said, “We’re…we’re disciples from the Youthful Clarity Sect.”

She found this young man very creepy, and the bloodthirstiness emanating from his cloak truly frightened her. His dead expression made her feel even more afraid.

Gu Suihan bent over to help the girl to her feet. He helped her to get rid of all the soil on her clothes and even patted her hair which was tied up into two ponytails, as though he were really his younger sister. “Your sect must have a way to communicate with one another, right?”

“Yes, we do.” The girl’s instinct was to avoid Gu Suihan’s large palm, but she shuddered when she recalled that frightening attack he made on her and dared not move anymore.

“Use it,” said Gu Suihan as he pinched her little cheeks, disregarding her stare of disbelief.

She trembled and dared not go against him. She retrieved a tiny sword from her storage ring that was only about 15 centimeters long and was covered in gold-colored mysterious runes.

“Activate it.” Gu Suihan’s voice remained as gentle as ever and even sounded encouraging as he continued to gently stroke her little face.

She glanced up at him, only to meet his demonic-looking lifeless eyes. Her heart sank, and her fair little hands trembled violently as she began to make several complicated hand seals before biting her tongue and spraying blood on the tiny sword. The tiny sword trembled and suddenly gave off an energy that threatened to slice through the skies above. The vibration of the blade resounded loudly.

The runes on the tiny sword started swirling, and the brilliant gold inscriptions burst one after another. A shocking amount of sword qi burst forth from the tiny sword, and it quietly disappeared altogether, but an invisible ripple continued to spread into the distance slowly.

“Who’s the top senior brother of the Youthful Clarity Sect?” asked Gu Suihan quietly as he gazed at the glorious scene in the air with a slightly dazed look in his eyes.

“Li Xiaoyao,” replied the girl. She had a bad feeling about this and immediately moved two steps away from Gu Suihan to increase the distance between the both of them.

“I see.” Gu Suihan nodded. He took out a jade slip and held it out to her, smiling gently and revealing some of his pearly whites. “You just need to pass this to Li Xiaoyao.”

“What’s this?” asked the girl instinctively before clamping a hand over her mouth with a terrified look on her face.

“Don’t be afraid. This is just something for Li Xiaoyao, and he will know what it is once he reads it.” Gu Suihan hid his hands in his sleeves and did not seem like he intended to kill her at all. He turned to fly up into the air, disappearing into the distance like a ghost.

The fact that he hadn’t killed her made the girl feel relieved. Her little hands gripped the slightly cold jade slip and went into a daze as she looked at where Gu Suihan once stood and had no idea what just happened.

“Hoho, it’s just a bit of sword qi. I’ll gobble you up another time.” A frosty glint shone in Gu Suihan’s bloodshot eyes. After flying several kilometers away from that eerie area, he suddenly landed and strolled on like an ordinary human.

That young lady was definitely someone important. There was a cloud of sword qi sealed away in her consciousness. That was the reason why he had decided against attacking her. If he fought that sword qi at his level of cultivation, he would end up getting badly hurt and might even die. So, he quickly gave up the idea of attacking the girl.

While Gu Suihan was wandering about aimlessly, he suddenly heard the sounds of low shouting and waves of magic spells being cast. He paused in his footsteps, then hurried like the wind as he soundlessly headed in the direction of the sounds.

When he was a few hundred meters away, he suddenly stopped and hid among the trees like a venomous snake to quietly observe the scene in front of him.

“Observations from Above!” His spiritual energy turned into a thin layer of mist that rested on his eyes. Everything in front of him instantly turned transparent. He stood atop a tree that had many branches to look down at where those sounds had been coming from earlier.

On one side stood seven people dressed in the Seven Kill Sect’s uniform. The other side had a total of eight people, including three from the Youthful Clarity Sect, one from the Wonderful Sound Sect, and four from the Vast Sky Sect.

Talismans and spells flew in all directions, and the sound of swords and blades colliding never stopped. It was clear that both sides were engaged in a fight to the very death. The Seven Kill Sect side had fewer people, but they were capable of many strange and formidable spells, so they were able to fight on their own without teaming up with their companions.

Their opponents hailed from different sects, but they were coordinating their attacks. The two sides seemed to be on par at first, but the Seven Kill Sect was slowly losing to the other side.

Gu Suihan wasn’t going to be that fisherman who could haul in all the fish after they had fought each other nearly to death. As far as he could tell, the Seven Kill Sect disciples were probably going to die in less than an hour, and there was no way he could fight the other eight by himself.

He changed back into his previous set of clothes, and his bloodshot eyes flickered before reverting to his usual deadpan stare. He then sauntered over to where the fight was happening.

“Who’s that?” Everyone could sense Gu Suihan coming their way since he didn’t bother concealing his presence. Both sides stopped fighting and looked warily at the calm young man standing some distance away from them.

“You’re…Gu Suihan?” one of the Seven Kill Sect disciples in well-fitting clothing and a spear in hand called out hesitantly.

The rest of the Seven Kill Sect disciples started grinning, while their opponents’ expressions fell upon hearing these words.

“That’s right.” Gu Suihan nodded but did not take a step forward, as though he was not interested in helping his fellow disciples at all.

“Brother Gu, you’ve come at a good time. We’ve found a place where a cultivator died while meditating. Let’s kill these disciples and explore the area together,” said one of them excitedly with a gleam in his eye.

“Humph! We were the ones who discovered that place first! Why do you make it sound like you discovered it, and we’re the ones fighting with you for it?” yelled out one of the disciples from the Vast Sky Sect as he stared at Gu Suihan with a hostile look on his face.

He knew that a fight between the two sides was inevitable, but he was angry that the Seven Kill Sect disciple had not given credit to the right person. Sects like the Vast Sky Sect placed a lot of importance on their reputation. They didn’t want to be known as a sect filled with disciples who killed others and consumed souls as if they were merely having a meal or drinking water. That was the Seven Kill Sect’s reputation.

At the same time, cultivators themselves did not actually have any distinction between good and evil. Unlike the novels about them, there was no distinction between choosing a righteous path and an evil path. Nor was there discrimination against those cultivators who chose to cultivate elements deemed to be more sinister in nature.

Gu Suihan snorted, and his sword immediately leaped out of its sheath. The sword flew toward one of the disciples from the Youthful Clarity Sect like a looming thunderstorm.

“That’s our chance!” The Seven Kill Sect disciples exchanged glances and charged toward that Youthful Clarity Sect disciple excitedly.

“I ran into a little girl with two ponytails earlier. Do you know who she is?” Even as Gu Suihan’s sword burst with sword qi and hurtled toward its opponent, he continued saying these words without giving any context. “There was a young man with her as well.”

“Shuang’er! Do you know who she is?! How dare you attack her!”

Just as Gu Suihan had guessed, that girl was no ordinary person. Gu Suihan had just given a simple description, and the young man started shouting with an anxious look on his face. The sword he held up in front of him wavered slightly, revealing his true emotions.

“Falling Moon, Snow Frost.” Gu Suihan had a mocking look in his eyes as a bloodied mist burst from his sword. As though a red moon hung high in the sky and snow was falling heavily, the temperature dropped suddenly as Questioning Heaven made its way toward the Youthful Clarity Sect disciple.

Fights were meant to be an unscrupulous process. Gu Suihan never cared about observing rules or ethics or anything like that. Each attack he made was meant to kill his opponent. Sometimes he spoke, but that was to agitate his opponent and make his opponent’s heart waver. He was like a lion hunting a rabbit, after all. He didn’t need to use all the strength he had. He would never put his life in danger because he was afraid of something his opponent might do or think.

“Sword Will Fills the Sky! My Sword Rises Above All!” The Youthful Clarity Sect disciple snapped out of his anger in an instant. He turned his sword the other way and brought it down on Gu Suihan’s sword, barely managing to deflect the fatal blow that was aimed at him. At the same time, his left hand made some hand seals, and he bit his tongue to spray blood all over his sword.

In that instant, an imposing surge of energy exploded from the blood on the sword. The Youthful Clarity Sect disciple glared so hatefully at Gu Suihan’s relaxed smirk as though his eyes were spewing fire.