Chương 434: Fire and Brimstone (III)

Liao Xinya felt short of breath and words, staring emptily at the strange man who stared right back, fearless. Not to mention the boy next to him whose hands were still tightly wound around the handle of the blade.... how did he block her attack? How? Though she didn't unleash her absolute strongest attack, she did not hold back in any meaningful way.

She used nearly the full brunt of her Peak Inner World cultivation and yet, somehow, some brat at the peak of Foundation Establishment managed to block her strike without being utterly obliterated. In fact... she felt a pushback. Of all the things she bore witness throughout her life, this may yet have been the most shocking, one that had rattled her wholly. And though the man next to him appeared to only be in Revolving Core Realm, Liao Xinya felt it... the fear.

All her martial experience was telling her that, if she engaged in a duel to death with the man, she would be the one dying... even if it made no sense. She was a Sword Maiden--abandoned, yes, but groomed since the cradle to be standing above everyone else in her generation. She was to become the sky looming over the earth and was never meant to entertain ordinary children in martial arts like those two. And yet, she faltered.

She, a Sword Maiden, was being pushed back by two completely unknown cultivators who looked more like ordinary mortals than they did the ilk pursuing immortality. And she apologized--something she had never done before in her life. Not once did the words 'I'm sorry' come out between her lips before today, yet she felt compelled to say them. How? Though the question rang out a thousand times in her mind, there was no answer. Not the one that she could come up with, anyway.

Perhaps they were of the upper realm and had come here to have fun? Unlikely. She knew to recognize the aura of those from above, such as that bastard pretending to be a Buddhist of this realm, unrepentantly waxing on about 'Song of Dao'. These two were not of above, and they were not from any Holy Lands. And they were not of Ancient Clans or any other hidden forces.

"Did you go mute? Or do you not want to answer me?" the man broke the silence, seeming to frown as she jolted herself back to reality.

"G-guardian? The realm has no guardian," she said. Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

"... eh?" he looked at her rather oddly, as though she were an ignorant child. Though fire flared up inside of her, she held it back.

"It has no guardian? Are you sure?"

"I'm sure," she replied, frowning, her voice growing tainted with slight anger.

"There is a remnant tomb of the Ancient Phoenix, but no living guardian. Why?"

"Huh," the man exclaimed softly, rubbing his beard for a moment.

"Uhm, I'm sorry to be the bearer of the bad news, but... this realm very much has a guardian. And it has nothing to do with a phoenix."

"..." Who was he? Was he lying to her? No... why would he? By now, he'd realized that she had been abandoned--for all intents and purposes, she was a rogue cultivator destined to die alongside everyone else in this realm. And yet, despite clearly knowing ahead of time that there was a trap, he came. And he seemed entirely unbothered by it.

"How did you know there would be a trap?"

"Ah, how does anyone know anything?" Though he intrigued her, he also pissed her off. His personality truly was... annoying.

"Where are we now?"

"Absconded Desert," she said.

"About four hundred miles southeast of the Great Tomb."

"It's a bit odd that only the three of us happened to land here," he said, looking at her oddly.

"Don't tell me you arranged it?"

"... if I had that kind of control, do you think I'd be in this predicament?"

"Fair enough. Well, you have a choice to make."

"A choice?"

"Hm," he nodded.

"You can either join us, stop trying to kill me, and we can help each other out. Or you can keep trying to kill me, inevitably die, and fade into a distant memory. Or, well, you can just pick a direction and go. Fly like the bird and whatnot. I promise not to follow you... immediately."

"How can I possibly trust you?" she asked.

"You've been vague and nonchalant about every question I asked."

"Oh, I'm sorry. Did my aversion to being honest with someone who tried to kill me out of thin air somehow inconvenience you? How deplorable of me. I must get on my knees and beg for your forgiveness immediately!"

"..." Liao Xinya's eyebrows danced aflutter, her breathing turning ragged. He was unlike any other cultivator that she'd ever met. Not only would they have spoken formally to her, as though to an Elder, but they'd never, not a million years, look at her with such derision as the man did.

"A-again... I-I apologize."

"I get the feeling you're not used to apologizing, huh?" A moment ago, his expression seemed to be one of anger, and yet, now, he was cracking a wide grin as though without a single worry.

"Ah, don't worry. It gets easier with time. The key to a genuine apology is to not look as though you've been constipated for a month. You'll pick it up. Anyway, what will you do? Join us, fight us, or go away?" She really, really, really wanted to choose either of the latter two ones, but, ultimately, she wasn't a fool. Even if she was ready to die a pointless death, she had hardly made peace with it.

Being used as a tool her entire life and then discarded when she overstayed her welcome was bitterly painful--if she could somehow survive this and get out, she was willing to befriend (very temporarily) even as someone as maddening as the man in front of her.

"I'll join," she said.

"I also swear an Oath of Soul to never try to attack either you or the boy."

"Alright. Good. I think this will be fun, no? Zhao'er, do you think it will be fun?"

"Are you sure, Master? She might betray us some other way. I don't trust her."

"Ah, I wouldn't worry. She looks like a nice kid, if we ignore she tried to kill me. She's in a tough situation too, you know?"... a kid? Did... did that man just call her a kid? She began to feel regret immediately as it swelled up inside her heart like a tidal wave. Though there was a chance she might survive, she realized immediately there was an even greater chance she would go mad by the time they left this place. And, truly, was that kind of a life worth anything? Anything at all?