Chapter 28: Xiuyue's Enlightenment

Suspended in midair, Su Yizhao idly inventoried the storage pouches at his waist to pass the time.

But as soon as he opened the first pouch, a frown creased his brow!

The wealth of the three great clans was no idle boast.

The pouch brimmed with spirit stones—over a million of them—along with a miscellany of other items, so full it was almost bursting.

Yet Su Yizhao’s eyes remained utterly unmoved.

Had this happened before, his heart would have raced with excitement.

But now, his own storage pouches were filled to capacity, and there wasn’t room for a single spirit stone more.

He had even discarded the million spirit stones he’d had left earlier, for now, every inch of space in his pouches was occupied by spiritual jades.

Ten days had passed, spent either cultivating or mining for spiritual jade.

At first, he had stowed every piece he found, but as his haul grew, he learned to distinguish their grades.

So, he tossed out all the lower-grade jades to make room for mid-grade ones.

And when he amassed upper-grade jade, the mid-grades were thrown out as well!

In the end, his pouches held over two million mid-to-upper-grade spiritual jades.

With a silent sigh, he grabbed a handful of spirit stones from the pouch and flung them backward with force.

“Spirit stones, mid-grade spirit stones—is this man mad?”

The disciples behind him, seeing the bounty flying their way, were first astonished and then elated, scrambling to snatch them up.

“Could it be he knows his death is certain?”

“That might be possible!”

“Grab them!”

While tossing spirit stones, Su Yizhao listened to the greedy chaos behind him with growing annoyance.

Suddenly, he recalled Li Xiuemoon and her companions.

Wouldn’t it be better to give these spirit stones to them, instead of these ungrateful disciples?

At once, he turned and asked, “Which way to the Alchemy Hall?”

A timid disciple pointed weakly to a hill on the right.

Su Yizhao smiled. “Thank you. Here’s a reward of one hundred thousand spirit stones!”

With that, a sweep of his spiritual sense sent a hundred thousand spirit stones hurtling toward the disciple.

The stones formed a glittering wave in the air.

The disciple scarcely believed his luck, fumbling to catch them in his pouch. By the time the others reacted, he was already clutching his pouch and flying away.

“Brother Su, you’re a dead man walking! Keeping spirit stones is useless—anything else you want to ask?”

“Yes, yes, I know the sect inside and out. Anything else you want to know?”

Su Yizhao was speechless.

The only answer was to quicken his pace.

A dozen breaths later, he hovered above the Alchemy Hall and called softly, “Xiuemoon!”

Inside, a slender figure sat cross-legged, carefully studying her pill formulas. At the sound of that achingly familiar voice overhead, she leapt to her feet, ready to fly up.

Just then, a figure appeared beside her and held her back.

“Master?”

“Xiuemoon, if Su Yizhao had been willing to bow his head and admit fault before he killed anyone, I could have spared his life for your sake. But now...!”

“Master, he was never in the wrong. If he could lower his head and admit fault, he wouldn’t be Su Yizhao, nor would he be my chosen companion.”

The elder sighed. “Xiuemoon, in the world of cultivation, sometimes you have to admit fault even when you haven’t done wrong.”

Xiuemoon nodded solemnly. “Yes, but he isn’t that kind of person—and that’s what, aside from his bright eyes, draws me to him most.”

The elder’s face was helpless. “But to offend all three clans at once... even I can’t protect him.”

Xiuemoon nodded earnestly. “Master, you worry too much! I’m not here for you to protect me or him. I’ve come to stand and fight by his side!”

“Not afraid, even if it means death?”

“I fear nothing—not even death!”

The elder was stunned.

Just for this love?

Was it worth it?

Seizing the moment, Xiuemoon broke free and soared outside.

“Xiuemoon, these are for you!” Su Yizhao, delighted at her appearance, handed her all three storage pouches and quickly asked, “You really dared to come?”

Xiuemoon accepted them without hesitation. “You dared to come find me, so of course I’d come too. If you hadn’t, I would have come to you!”

Su Yizhao was puzzled. “Aren’t you afraid I’ll drag you down with me?”

She nodded. “Su Yizhao killed three men in self-defense. Madman Su flings away spirit stones—it all happened just now, but I already know every detail. I knew then: you’d come looking for me.”

Su Yizhao was even more astonished.

After all, seeking her out was a sudden impulse. How had she guessed?

“What’s this? Underestimating me?” Xiuemoon laughed. “Brother Yizhao never does anything he’s not sure of. If you truly believed you were doomed, you’d never come looking for me for fear of implicating me. Since you’re here, you must have a way to survive. Am I right?”

Su Yizhao paused, studying her.

Her exquisite face showed not the slightest ripple, her gaze steady, brimming with confidence and resolve.

He truly had underestimated her.

He should have realized sooner—someone with such talent for alchemy would hardly lack for wit.

“Haha! Well said! Today, even those three clans will have to bow their heads and admit their faults!”

“Brother Yizhao has a plan?”

“Want to see it for yourself?”

“Of course—I’ll go wherever you go!”

He took her arm, bold and unrestrained. “Good! But first, let’s deal with these obstacles in our path.”

Behind them, nearly twenty thousand disciples followed.

From three directions, three cultivators streaked through the air, closing in within a thousand feet.

“Brother Yizhao, do you need any pills?”

“Why would I need pills for mere trifles like this?”

Xiuemoon pouted. “Not even a top-grade fourth-tier pill?”

Su Yizhao was taken aback.

A top-grade fourth-tier pill?

She could refine such things already!

That was extraordinary talent indeed.

But there was no time to ask. From three directions came thunderous shouts: “Su Yizhao, die! Sacrifice!”

A rain of flying swords shot toward them from all sides.

Su Yizhao stepped forward, shielding Xiuemoon behind him.

The thousands of disciples behind them gasped in unison.

The flying swords unleashed by three peak cultivators were nothing to scoff at—their speed and power had doubled or tripled.

But before Su Yizhao, it was still not enough!

He chanted swiftly, and his mid-stage Divine Spirit cultivation erupted in full force. The perfected Flying Sword Art surged to life.

Six swords became a thousand; six thousand blades of light streaked even faster toward their foes.

A cacophony erupted in the sky.

Ten thousand sparks exploded at once!

The silvery sword lights shattered the oncoming blades and pressed on, driving straight for the three attackers.

“Mid-stage Divine Spirit?”

“Impossible!”

“How can this be?”

The three, shocked by the first exchange, barely had time to put up a defense before it was too late.

With a wet, slicing sound, their bodies were torn to pieces in the air, blood raining down from above.

Su Yizhao’s form flickered; three ghostly images split off from him in an instant.

Like shooting stars, the phantoms snatched the storage pouches from the air, then merged back into him.

From the moment the attack began to the moment the three were reduced to bloody shreds, only four or five heartbeats had passed.

The spectators’ eyes could barely follow the action. Before they could even react, all that was left was a rain of blood—and a blue-robed cultivator holding three new storage pouches.