Enemies and Allies

The mysterious woman, whom many were calling 'the Goddess of the Seas', lingered in the air above the crowd. The invisible pressure that she released forced the battle to come to a halt, creating a strange tension amongst the people below. This atmosphere would not dissipate so long as she remained present.

As the woman glanced at the blue stone in Aque Lin's palm, she casually waved her hand and the stone flew up towards her. The stone, upon making contact with her delicate hand, dissolved into a blue energy which entered her white spiritual body.

"As a possessor of mine bloodline, you may receive the first level of mine power." She spoke plainly.

Aque Li's expression lit up and he repeatedly bowed his head excitedly, showing his gratitude and reverence.

Meanwhile, Yaan's expression became increasingly dark. He was still maintaining the Cutting Typhoon Art, but he was holding it at a low level. It was draining his energy, but maintaining the art allowed him to stay on guard, ready to burst out with an immense explosion of power at the perfect moment…

He would definitely need to give it his all if he wanted to survive beyond today!

At this moment, the woman spoke once more.

"Take mine essence of fluid light."

After saying this, the shining woman reached out and pointed her index finger down at Aque Li.

A brilliant blue light rippled out from the tip of her finger as she created a droplet of water from this air.

The glimmering droplet slowly descended towards Aqua Li. Despite the movement being slow, nobody even dared to move under the pressure emitted from the woman above.

As Aque Li reverently reached up and grasped the droplet with his two palms, his pupils suddenly widened and he gasped deeply. As he exhaled, a cloud of steam was purged from his lungs. The steam totally covered his body, hiding him from view. Once his body could no longer be seen, the woman in the sky spoke one final line.

"Comprehend mine essence of fluid light during battle to further refine your bloodline…if you wish to receive further blessings, then you must offer another sacrifice."

With that, a blinding blue light surrounded the woman. The black cloud which had encompassed the entire palace hall ceiling was rapidly absorbed into her body.

By the time the black cloud had vanished, so had the blue light, and the woman…was nowhere to be seen.

Yaan looked up warily. He tried to locate the bizarre woman who came and went like a spectre or a ghost, but he couldn't find a single trace of her existence.

Boom!

Distracted from his musings, Yaan grimaced and turned to face a figure, slowly emerging from a dense cloud of mist.

The mist gradually formed a vortex and was absorbed into the figure's two palms, revealing Aque Li within. However, Aque Li was not the same as before, he was filled with a power like nothing he had ever felt before.

In fact, before the astonished gazes of the entire crowd, he began to regress in age…

The change wasn't too ridiculous, but some of the wrinkles caused by his middle age smoothed over, and his few grey hairs all regained their previous deep black lustre! From someone with an appearance of a man in his late forties, he now looked like a 40 year old man, perhaps even slightly younger!

Everyone was stunned by the rapid progression of events, but they were also wary and on high alert. Aque Li's present demeanour was too shocking, it was as if he had transformed into a different person entirely.

Previously, he was always cautious and held back, but now, he strode forwards purposefully, showing no intention of hiding his actions in the least.

Just as Yaan was wondering if this might be yet another trick, Aque Li raised his trident high above his head, accumulating a giant whirlpool of water in the sky. Water seeped out of the pores across his skin, creating an upwards flowing river, which steadily contributed to the enlargement of the whirlpool up above.

Even Aque Li's own comrades were stunned senseless, instinctively stepping back, afraid that they might get caught up in the crossfire!

Wam!

Without warning, Aque Li slammed the trident down into the hard stone floor. The shockwaves sent people catapulting backwards, spraying out blood miserably.

Only Yaan remained unmoved, still within Aque Li's reach. Yaan felt doubtful when he saw that even Ghu Lin was swept away by the shockwaves, but he had no time to think about that right now - the strike was upon him!

Boom!

As the whirlpool collapsed downwards, Yaan continued to defend with the Cutting Typhoon Art. Even though he had been sustaining this art for some time now, its strength had not decreased in the least. Not only that, but this art was displaying a much stronger power than usual, because this art was the result of a chain of sword arts!

When multiple sword arts were used consecutively, it was known as 'chaining' the arts. When the sword arts overlapped entirely, it was known as 'fusing'. Unknowingly, Yaan had already started to approach the realm of fusing sword arts. He was unaware of this, because this was something that he had started doing instinctively in an attempt to produce the greatest amount of power possible!

As Aque Li's trident and Yaan's sword collided, the two showed crazed expressions. Aque Li was clearly intoxicated on his newfound power, but that wasn't all…just like the 'Goddess of the Seas' had said, his bloodline was slowly but surely being refined. He was growing stronger by the second!

BANG!

Aque Li shot backwards, but landed on his feet and stumbled for a few steps before turning to Yaan and staring at him in disbelief.

Yaan stared back at his opponent. His entire body was soaked in his own blood, and a pool of crimson and accumulated beneath his feet. Even so, his eyes brightened and fixated on Aque Li.

For a moment, Aque Li trembled. Despite all of his power, despite knowing that his opponent was on the verge of death…

He saw something in Yaan's eyes.

In the brutal exchange just now, Yaan's mysterious hat sustained damage. Part of the hat was cut away, revealing a portion of Yaan's face beneath. People could finally see his eyes now, letting many understand why he was so damn tenacious.

"Red eyes!"

"With his resilience, he must be a demon!"

"Damn, he must be a body temperer! And a 3-Star Realm body temperer at that, this is…"

"A vile demon, we should all-"

"Are you stupid? Do you really want to fight a body temperer in this place?! And he's a Ghu Clan guest, he's…" Suddenly, the person who had been berating his friend trailed off.

Yaan stared at Aque Li. His entire body was burning and screaming in pain, yet he was filled with excitement and battle intent, because just now, he felt a breakthrough in his sword arts!

But this excitement did not last long.

Aque Li was the first to see it.

The Aque Clansman's eyes widened. For a moment, he subconsciously reached out with his hand. It was as if he was reaching out, trying to pull Yaan away, trying to save him, for reasons that he himself did not understand.

Suddenly, Yaan realised that too many people were looking at him with shocked, strange gazes. An immense feeling of danger swept through his body, and he forced himself to spin around, lifting two swords hastily to protect himself.

Earlier on in the battle, the sword that his late teacher had given him back then, finally became cracked. Not wanting to damage it further, Yaan sighed and put it away in his storage bag.

Right now, he chose the lightest of the swords that he had won as rewards throughout the inheritance thus far. His body was in a weakened state and he wasn't confident that he would be able to act fast enough if he chose a heavy sword.

His mind was hazy, but that screaming alarm continued to ring out in his mind.

'There!'

At the last possible second, Yaan saw a flash of energy thrusting towards his throat. He managed to hastily block, only to find that four more strikes were aiming for his two eyes and his heart.

Puchi!

Yaan stumbled back and choked up a lungful of blood. His eyes widened and he stared forwards with a severe expression, rapidly trying to process this situation, but struggling to put everything together. In the end, he could only utter a single word.

"Why…?"

He was talking to Ghu Lin, whose sword had stabbed straight through his heart whilst leaving behind a black corrosive poison, but he was also speaking to that girl…

"Hmph, I'm just paying you back for earlier! I hate owing people debts, so…" Zue Yin trailed off as she looked down at Yaan.

At first, she acted with extreme arrogance, as she believed that she had saved his life. Now though, she realised that she had actually failed to pull him back in time to avoid all of Ghu Lin's attacks.

There was a deep hole in his chest. The hole stabbed straight through his chest and out from his back, leaving a thick black toxic sludge in its wake.

"Thanks." Yaan stated simply, not having the energy for anything more than this.

Before doing or saying anything else, Yaan calmly slipped his hand into his spatial bag, pulled out a handful of pills, and swallowed them all in one go. He washed it down with four bottles of potions, then as Ghu Lin began walking closer to him whilst moving in a circle, Yaan poured a vial of fluid into the hole in his chest.

"Ugh…" He grimaced. Zue Yin, now standing by his side, stared at him in shock.

Firstly, she was shocked that he was still alive, despite having been stabbed through the heart. Secondly, she practised alchemy, so she was able to recognise the medicines that he just took…

"Do you know how many Rank 4 pills you just took?! And that vial, that was the tincture from the Tree of Life, right?!"

Yaan remained silent, but she was right. He felt a bit pained to use up the tincture from the Tree of Life. It was definitely his most valuable medicine, not including the things he had earned within this trial.

He bought the Tree of Life tincture in North Ghu City. It was in extremely high demand and the world tree was said to be hundreds of thousands of miles away, but merchants always harvested a huge quantity of the sap whenever they made the round trip, so a small vial was just about affordable.

Using this expensive tincture was necessary, but not because of the stab wound…being stabbed through the heart was only a minor matter, the real issue was the corrosive poison. Yaan had no idea what sort of poison Ghu Lin had afflicted him with, but it was rapidly eating through his body, destroying him from inside out.

He swallowed another handful of pills, then finally turned to face Ghu Lin with a dark expression. Zue Yin pouted, annoyed that he'd ignored her, but she remained by his side for whatever reason.

Before Yaan could say anything, someone else spoke up on his behalf.

"Ghu Lin…! Yaan is my guest…a Ghu Clan Guest…what is the meaning of this…?!" Ghu Nadda rushed towards the opening that had been made for Yaan, Zue Yin and Ghu Lin, confronting Ghu Lin and blocking him from taking a single step closer to Yaan. He looked extremely wary, and just as confused as everyone else. This whole situation came out of nowhere, and since Aque Li's usage of that spell caused the battle to pause temporarily anyway, nobody was in a rush to continue right now.

Yaan continued staring at Ghu Lin, waiting for him to explain. Honestly, Yaan didn't expect this unreadable guy to explain himself, however, it seemed that he was destined to be surprised multiple times today…

"Hmph, did you really think you could scheme against my Ghu Clan?" In an instant, it was as if Ghu Lin had turned into a different person. His indifference vanished, replaced by an expression of annoyance and disdain.

Yaan was startled. He felt an even deeper premonition of danger compared to before.

This guy, why was he speaking so differently all of a sudden, what happened to his emotionless, unreadable expression? And…why was he pulling out a sheet of parchment…?

"You all see this? This is a-"

"Shit!" Yaan cursed out loud, startling Zue Yin by his side. Yaan suddenly ripped the mysterious hat from his head with a ferocious expression.

There were many things that had confused Yaan until this point, but when Ghu Lin pulled out that official document, which was clearly stamped with the North Ghu City Lord's official signature, many things finally clicked together.

At first, Yaan wondered why Ghu Lin attacked him. Was it to steal his rewards? Unlikely. If Ghu Clansmen went around backstabbing their official guests, nobody would ever want to work with them again.

Since it wasn't for his own personal gain, and since attacking Yaan would definitely cause problems for Ghu Lin with his elders if he was acting alone…it could only mean that the North Ghu City Lord had arranged this.

The city lord actually wanted him dead! As for how he overcame the poison oath, Yaan didn't know, and besides, that wasn't relevant right now.

What was important, was why, given that Ghu Lin had absolutely attempted to kill him in that instant, would he then give Yaan time to recover?

There were two reasons. Firstly, he needed to justify his actions to everyone present, after all, his clansmen would start to doubt him if he didn't provide an explanation for turning on a Ghu Clan Guest. On the surface, that was what he was doing right now…but more importantly, he was actually making an attempt on Yaan's life yet again!

Since Ghu Lin clearly had no intention of charging at him to confront him head on, it could only mean that he had another means of attack. A means that he wanted to keep hidden…hidden behind the official document!

Just as Yaan cursed out loud, a red glow flashed behind the official document in Ghu Lin's hand. As Yaan expected, Ghu Lin had burned a talisman, attempting to do this in secret whilst reading the city lord's letter.

This whole operation was definitely the city lord's doing. Ghu Lin was merely the soldier carrying out the orders. The scheme itself must have been set up long before the opening of the inheritance…

There was only one possible method that the North Ghu City Lord could use to harm Yaan from outside of the inheritance; planting a trap on his body. At the last moment, Yaan remembered…the mysterious hat!

Before the opening of the inheritance, the city lord made his own 'improvements' to this hat so that others would not be able to see through Yaan's identity.

Yaan ripped the hat from his head and threw it with the greatest strength that he could muster right now, all whilst jumping backwards towards Zue Yin.

Unfortunately, six runes within the inside of the hat lit up with a bloodthirsty light before Yaan managed to fully remove the treasure from his head. The runes all erupted inwards with a terrifying explosive force. It was a malicious attack that would have certainly killed Yaan instantly were he wearing the hat when the trap was triggered.

The hat was a few inches from his head when it started to detonate, and just over a foot away from him by the time the explosion hit him in full force. The fiery explosion enveloped his arms, scolded his head and face, and rushed towards his entire upper body. The explosion was so powerful that when combined with Yaan's thrust, the hat shot outwards, leaving a blazing trail in its wake.

A few unlucky fellows were caught up in the flames. They either burned to death, or were killed by the powerful shockwaves.

Just as the hat flew away from him, Yaan kicked off the ground with his Agile Sword Arts, taking two steps back before the full brunt of the shockwaves reached him. He was thrown backwards, barely managing to cover and protect his body with his two swords and his blackened arms.

As he planned, he flew back towards Zue Yin. Yaan had already taken the brunt of the attack, but her expression changed and she became pale-faced. In this moment of life and death crisis, she stepped forwards, thrusting her two palms towards the blast.

For a brief moment, the explosion was parted. Zue Yin even thought that she had managed to dispel it entirely…

In the next moments, a wave of flames engulfed Yaan and threatened to drown Zue Yin in a sea of fire.

She had underestimated the scale of this blast. As the flames approached, terror crept into Zue Yin's eyes.

Yaan gritted his teeth, knowing that without Zue Yin's help, he was done for. He reached out and grabbing her, lifting her up from the ground and pulling her close, resulting in the two of them being ejected by the explosion by the shockwaves which were still growing in intensity.

Jolted awake by Yaan's viciously strong grip on her arm, she glared at him in pain and anger, but she understood the situation. Zue Yin started forming hand seals, each deflecting portions of the fire, heat and shockwaves.

After a few seconds, the pair crashed down onto the ground. Yaan slid across the ground, practically lifeless, whilst Zue Yin sat on top of him, holding her arms outstretched towards the remaining flames. Gradually, the flames subsided, leaving an eery silence throughout the cavern, making Zue Yin's shocked and erratic breathing all the more audible.

Somehow, Yaan and Zue Yin just about managed to save one another from the absurdly intense explosion. Zue Yin was injured, but her injuries were not too bad. She didn't take the full force of the initial explosion, and her style of cultivation gave her a strong resilience against flames to begin with.

As for Yaan…he was in bad condition.

Yaan lay there on the ground, half-dead, half-conscious, and completely unable to move.