Chapter 293: Chapter 293

Li Xun clenched his teeth and still spared a glance toward the far bank of the great river. If the situation had allowed it, he would have shouted long ago, “You fence-sitting idiot!”

Maybe he really felt the heat of Li Xun’s rage, or maybe he’d finally seen the light. Either way, just as Li Xun was cursing him out in his head, Bisu took a deep breath, angled his sword tip toward the empty air, then traced a subtle, arcane path with it until it pointed at a spot across the river.

Then, with a low, muffled growl, the spot his sword was pointing at exploded with a violent shudder. A shockwave that was invisible yet tangible rippled outward like rings on water. It raised no waves, yet spread silently and relentlessly.

There was no great force behind this strike, but it landed precisely on a critical juncture in the shifting of Yun Xing’s sword momentum and the movement of the Star River.

Li Xun, caught inside it all, felt the change most clearly. The crushing pressure that had been squeezing the breath from his chest eased. With that single strike, Bisu had opened a clear path of escape for him.

Li Xun did not dare hesitate. He flared into a streak of light and shot forward.

In the void, Yun Xing flickered into view, and the Greedy Wolf Immortal Sword slashed down through the air. The blade hummed and shuddered, scattering crystalline flashes until the sword itself was almost impossible to make out. In that split second, Li Xun saw only a long, hazy band of light slicing across his path, catching his escape with precision.

To Li Xun’s eyes, there was nothing especially fancy about Yun Xing’s strike. It was simply perfectly timed and brutally fast, leaving him no choice but to meet it head-on.

Worse yet, her sword qi was terrifyingly sharp. Back on the Gathering Stars Platform, Li Xun had already been cut twice. Once across his fingers, once on his chest. So he sure as hell didn’t fancy going toe-to-toe with the Greedy Wolf’s edge again. Especially not with the blade vibrating at that insane speed; one wrong move and it could shred his limbs into mincemeat.

As the sword light bore down on him, Li Xun’s eyes narrowed. A streak of cyan light shot up from behind his shoulder, followed by a shrill, ear-piercing screech of metal on metal. It sounded like a single clash at first, but in that instant the two blades had actually traded blows at least a thousand times. Every impact landing on exactly the same spot.

Thank heavens. Because his identity had been exposed and he had not had time to change gear, he still had the Azure Jade Sword at hand. Otherwise, things would truly have turned dire.

Seizing the brief opening as the two swords clashed, Li Xun accelerated again, skimming past Yun Xing’s back at almost point-blank range.

The protective true breathe around their bodies ground violently against each other. In the dim, murky light, blinding sparks burst forth. Li Xun forced down the turmoil in his true breath, recalled the Azure Jade Sword first, then, in the instant their bodies crossed, drove a brutal elbow strike in.

Yun Xing twisted, trying to slip away. But another muffled roar rolled in from across the river. At the sound, Yun Xing’s movements stalled once more. That was all it took. Li Xun’s elbow smashed home. A sharp crack echoed through his shoulder and back as bone gave way. Li Xun’s Burning Blood Primordial Breath surged like a savage beast into Yun Xing’s body, greedily devouring his blood and qi.

In the blink of an eye, all the color drained from Yun Xing’s face, only to flush a deep red the next moment. Even so, the hand holding his sword remained rock-steady. He slashed once, forcing Li Xun back several paces, then let out a fierce, ringing shout:

“One mistake was already too much. Must you make another?”

What answered him was the shrieking howl of sword qi slicing clean across the river. Right on its heels, Bisu’s stocky body charged in like a maddened bull, his sword cleaving down toward the back of Yun Xing’s head.

That strike was less about killing and more about venting feelings he couldn’t hold back. There was no finesse to it at all. Even wounded, Yun Xing dodged it easily. The surging blade qi instead split the rock wall behind him clean in two, sending huge chunks of stone peeling off and crashing down. It looked dramatic, if nothing else.

Li Xun saw it plain as day. Bisu’s face was twisted beyond recognition, every muscle snarling with vicious rage. The first swing missed, so he unleashed a frantic chain of seventeen or eighteen more, hacking away like he was swinging a cleaver instead of a sword. Dead set on chopping Yun Xing into pieces in one breath.

“Are you fucking insane?!”

Bisu’s frenzied assault not only failed to kill Yun Xing, it also forced Li Xun onto the back foot. He had to keep dodging just to avoid the wild stellar power turbulence stirred up by those lightning-fast strikes. At last, Li Xun could not hold it in anymore and exploded, “You useless son of a bitch. If you’re so eager to die, don’t drag me down with you!”

That outburst seemed to snap Bisu back to his senses a little. A bitter, broken smile twisted across his face. “Too late,” he said. “Too late. They’re here.”

Them? Old Tian Yuan? Li Xun froze for a second. Then it felt like a bucket of ice water had been dumped over his head. A chill ran straight down his spine, seeping into his bones. And it was not just Tian Yuan. Li Douliang might be involved too. Even Qingming was probably part of it.

After his bitter smile, Bisu launched into another frenzy of rapid sword strikes.

In this state of mind, he had completely lost all control. There was no pattern, no strategy, just wild sword qi raging out of him, blasting the cliffs and rock walls on both sides of the great river into countless fragments. At this rate, if he failed to kill Yun Xing within twenty more strikes, he might just turn the blade on himself and slit his own throat.

Caught in the storm of sword qi, Yun Xing kept fighting on. Even with a devastating wound across his shoulder and back, his sword work only grew steadier. More composed. It was obvious he was digging in and holding out, waiting for reinforcements.

Which meant that Yun Xing had already cast aside any concern for brotherhood or the sect’s reputation. He was simply waiting for Tian Yuan to arrive and clean house.

Li Xun stood there, staring blankly at the scene. His mind went empty, his hands and feet icy cold.

And the precious time they had left was slipping away fast.

Bisu was already running on fumes. His sword qi was still fierce, but even Li Xun, whose mind was in complete chaos, could see it clearly. The moment Yun Xing struck back with a single sword move, Bisu would have no chance of surviving.

Yet Yun Xing merely pressed his lips together and guarded himself like an iron fortress, coldly watching as Bisu slid deeper and deeper into madness.

“If you refuse to cut things off when you should, the chaos only comes back to consume you. Even now, are you still not satisfied? Still greedy?”

The voice was achingly familiar. It suddenly slipped into Li Xun’s ears, making his body stiffen. He forced himself not to turn around.

It was Yin Wanderer speaking.

She did not reveal herself. She was hovering like a ghost, whispering right beside his ear.

Strange as it sounds, the moment that voice reached him, the chaos in his heart suddenly settled. A lot. Even Bisu’s wild shouts and roars in the distance seemed to fade, as if muffled by some invisible barrier, giving Li Xun the space to think more clearly about what Yin Wanderer had just said.

“Greedy?”

“The Fuban is a tiny insect that tries to seize all the gains in the world, refusing to let go of even the slightest bit, only to be crushed to death by its own burden. You’re always wracking your brain, desperate to grab every last benefit for yourself. Just don’t forget: there’s a limit to what any person can hold. Even someone like Zhong Yin couldn’t protect Qing Yin in the end, could he?”

Yin Wanderer was speaking at a blistering pace. The whole long speech took no more time than it normally would to say a dozen words. Rarely for her, every syllable was crisp and clear, and Li Xun did not miss a single word.

That speed alone made Li Xun understand one thing. Time was running out, and he no longer had the luxury of choice.

He clenched his teeth, forcing himself to stop thinking about what might happen later, and shifted his gaze toward Bisu.

By now, Bisu was teetering right on the edge of total collapse; he could drop any second. Watching him like that, something suddenly clicked for Li Xun.

This guy was supposed to be a True Person master, yet right now he couldn’t even bring out a tenth of his real power. Wasn’t that the classic sign of someone crushed by the weight in his own heart?

He still had other options.

As the thought settled in, another thing clicked for Li Xun. He lowered his voice. “All right. I’ll do it your way. But even if you are cutting off an arm to save your life, you still fight for it first, don’t you?”

When it came to moments like this, even if there’d never been anything between them. Yin Wanderer let out a soft laugh, said nothing in reply, and simply gave Li Xun a gentle shove from behind.

Li Xun went with the motion and burst forward. In a flash, he appeared behind Bisu.

The guy must’ve completely lost it. He didn’t react at all, didn’t even twitch, and just let Li Xun clamp a hand around the back of his neck. True breath flooded in, a jolt of searing pain ripping through him, making his whole body spasm. Right then, Li Xun roared in his ear: “As long as you stay alive, there’ll always be another shot. Now get the hell out of here!”

Those words weren’t exactly brimming with originality, and Li Xun had no idea if they’d actually work. But jolted by the shout, Bi Xiu shuddered again and finally turned to look back. His eyes, however, were completely unfocused.

Seeing this, Li Xun knew the guy’s spiritual senses were completely clouded by his inner demons. No way he would recover anytime soon.

And that was perfect.

Li Xun poured his strength into the grip and yanked, hauling the two of them over Yun Xing’s head in a tangled blur, picking up speed as they shot forward.

Yun Xing never expected Li Xun to pull something like this at a moment like that. He froze for a second, then shifted his flow of energy from defense to attack and shot after them on his flying sword.

But just as he moved, a horrible shriek exploded in his ear.

But the instant he shot forward, a blood-curdling shriek exploded in his ear.

He looked up and saw Bisu, who had just been dragged away moments ago, flying back toward him. Blood poured from his mouth as his body slammed backward, landing squarely in the path of Yun Xing’s sword. If Yun Xing didn’t pull back now, his blade would slice Bisu clean in two.

“Shameless bastard!”

The realization hit Yunxing like a slap, but there was nothing he could do about Li Xun’s dirty trick. He wrenched his sword to a halt, forcing his body to stop, and reached out to grab Bisu.

He wasn’t taking any chances. The moment his fingers touched Bisu, he sent several strands of true breath threading straight into the man’s acupoints and meridians, sealing them first before probing deeper to check the extent of the internal injuries.

After a brief inspection, Yun Xing’s brows knitted tight.