Chapter 21: Revelations

Four people tightly surrounded Ming Daiyu. She was wielding a thin, black sword that shined in a weak white light. Her long, black hair danced in the darkness along with her elegant movements, creating a mesmerizing scene.

They had been fighting for a few rounds, and surprisingly, Ming Daiyu was able to keep up with four Second Realm cultivators at the same time. However, she was slowly becoming disadvantaged.

Every swing of her sword left a shiny path of light in the air, one that illuminated the dim space with the help of her dazzling, pink eyes.

'I won't be able to keep this up for long. It's a miracle I'm still holding on.' She thought as ideas raced through her mind like a fireworks' show. Unfortunately, none could really help her.

She was sure she wasn't going to die, but she wanted to catch Ling Zhou to try to negotiate with the mastermind of the assault; his uncle. She knew who he was, but that only made the situation harder to believe.

'Why the heck is the Vice Sect Leader of the Flying Leaf Sect commanding an army composed of people from the Flaming Swamp Sect to attack us!?' She thought, clenching her jaw.

The two sects mentioned were the only sects near Gray Grass Sect: they were 100-200 km away, while the others were above 500 km further. The three were at the extreme east of Dim Island, almost out of the jurisdiction of the three powers that governed the land.

Gray Grass Sect was already in very bad conditions with the Flaming Swamp Sect –both had already fought multiple times for resources and treasures– but the stronger Flying Leaf Sect had intervened, forcing a temporary ceasefire.

That's the reason the elders had accepted Ling Zhou into the sect despite knowing his whole background; it made no sense to send him if they had ill intentions.

But now? It seemed both sects had formed an alliance to erase Gray Grass Sect from existence, claiming something about evil collaboration.

As for the reason? Who knows.

Ming Daiyu was thinking about this as she blocked and evaded strikes from every direction, but after every clash, she became slower; her spiritual energy was about to run out.

It had only been a minute since the start of their battle, but even if she was a genius, the amount of energy she possessed couldn't be compared to that of someone from the Second Realm

The four people fighting against her –three men and a woman– were covered in the same white light as Ming Daiyu's sword. It was a discreet armor of glow that didn't seem to falter even after many grazes from the thin and luxurious black sword.

"AGHHH!"

Finally, after a couple more exchanges, Ming Daiyu let out a roar, concentrating all her remaining stamina and spiritual energy into a 360 degree slash, pushing the people around her a few meters back and making use of the moment of freedom to take something out of her white space ring.

"It's not the time yet, but I have no other choice."

The object she took out was a yellow rock that emitted a weak glow and seemed to contain some sort of liquid inside. Ming Daiyu immediately lifted the stone over her face and broke it; the clear liquid contained inside flowed into her mouth, some even splashed out of it as she gulped it.

Her body began to shine in yellow, making a strange contrast with her dark-silver robes; the air around her raged. The energy contained in the surroundings was sucked into her body, making her eyes glow and her hair float up.

She was breaking through. The liquid she took before ensured the process was many times faster.

The people at the outermost part of the formation were finally needed, so they attacked throwing needles, lightning and other things, but the majority of these were blocked.

The four close-ranged warriors couldn't participate; any mishap during breakthrough would cause a powerful explosion, and they wouldn't be able to evade it.

The only thing they could do was watch as some attacks pierced the air-barrier and left wounds on the girl's body.

Ming Daiyu didn't stay in that state for long. The air around her condensed and exploded away causing great shockwaves, signaling the end of the previous spectacle and silencing the whole battlefield.

The silence in the area, however, caused the contrary effect as it allowed the distant sounds to be heard.

"Don't kill me, please!"

Bam!

"Why are you doing this!?"

"I'm only following orders, stop!"

"I will avenge my friends!"

Cries, shouts of anger, pleads, clashings of swords and screams of pain whispered in the ears of those present. The situation had gotten much worse; every inch of the sect had been turned into a battlefield. People from both sides died every minute.

'I need to stop this.' Ming Daiyu thought, forcing her bloodied body into a combat stance. Her pink eyes glistened before she disappeared from her spot. She was much faster than before, the amount of energy she could induce into her body rose dramatically.

She reappeared in front of one of the people that were further away, hitting his head with the hilt of her sword and knocking him out. The guy couldn't even react before he passed out.

The same scene was repeated again, and again… and again. The six people forming the hexagon fell one after the other, yet the Second Realm cultivators couldn't do anything about it.

She turned back to face them with a cold expression. However, she couldn't realize that a thin and barely perceptible thread of light flashed through the bodies of the people she had knocked out.

Ming Daiyu didn't waste any time and rushed towards the people that had been fighting her earlier. This time, she also had a layer of light covering her, but differently from the other cultivators, hers was yellow.

Her movements flashed with speed as she alone overpowered everyone; every path her sword took was the most efficient. She built up the advantage until she could finally break the defense of one of the men, piercing in a non-fatal place, leaving him unable to continue fighting.

From afar, one would only see a yellow light rapidly overpowering three white ones; now that they had lost a person, the battle was decided. It didn't take long for the rest to fall, not dead, but unconscious.

Ming Daiyu breathed heavily, tired, as her eyes gazed at the distance. Ling Zhou was long gone, and with him, the flawed but only plan she had.

"Damn it!" She cursed out loud.

"I hesitated too much. My only choice is to send a message and hope for the best."

As she said this in the middle of the ruined scenery, a golden scroll materialized from nothing into her hands. It also shined in a yellow and royal tone, appearing majestic.

She quickly left her sword on the ground just in case she would need it immediately, took a pen out of nowhere and started writing with an amazing calligraphy. However, a voice interrupted her in the middle of it, one she recognized but didn't expect to hear in this situation.

"Is that what I think it is?"

A boy with lime-green eyes and short brown hair asked. He was comfortably lying on top of a piece of rubble that looked more like a big rock, scanning the golden scroll with his gaze.

"Yi Ren? Is that you?" Ming Daiyu replied with a question of her own, noticing the strangeness of the situation and the behavior of the boy she knew well.

"Oh, yes, Senior Sister Ming. Forgive me for meddling, it's just that I was impressed by your deeds. Your fight was very interesting." He said in a relaxed manner.

Wasn't it weird to be relaxed in a situation like this? This thought appeared inside the girl's mind, but she instantly dismissed it.

"Since when have you been watching, Junior Brother Yi?"

"I haven't been here long, only a few minutes. I apologize, I was curious about your… performance."

Ming Daiyu's entire fight didn't last more than ten minutes, so that implied he had seen a large portion of it.

Yi Ren got up from where he was resting and jumped off the piece of rubble, getting closer to where she was.

"But I'm more curious about that thing you're holding. It might turn things a bit difficult if my guess is true."

He kept talking as he walked. After he got closer, Ming Daiyu finally noticed what was different about the boy; apart from his hair, his clueless expression was gone. It was a very small difference, but it changed his whole demeanor.

"I don't know how you recognize this item, Junior Brother. I hope you don't try anything funny."

She didn't understand why, but her instincts forced her to raise her guard and make a threat.

Yi Ren couldn't care less, but he still stopped two meters away from her.

This, however, only made Ming Daiyu's bones cold. It wasn't for something he had done, but for what he was suddenly holding: an elegant, thin and black sword that shone even in the darkness.

She, a genius Second Realm cultivator with the best training someone could ever have, couldn't even react as her weapon was taken away.

"I've always wanted to see this sword up close, it reminded me of someone. I thought it was just a beautiful and luxurious piece, but now… It's more interesting than I had imagined."

"Y-Yi Ren, what has gotten into you? Were you possessed?"

Ming Daiyu questioned, stuttering. That was the only explanation she could think of; the situation was too strange.

"Oh, I was just acting Senior… or should I call you 'Your Highness'? Whatever.

A rich, pretty girl with many connections, that was my evaluation of you before. You would be quite useful to my plans, I thought, so I tried seducing you. What better way to gain a woman's favor?

I'm quite sure I failed –turns out Fang Chang's advice was… insufficient. I really can't trust in those guys' words. Haaa… It was the same with the haircut.

So in conclusion: Ming Daiyu, you are not useful anymore."

He kept speaking as he admired the piece of art on his hands. When he finished his monologue, he appeared in front of Ming Daiyu, already grabbing the hand where a delicate smooth and metallic ring rested with his free hand.

She was in shock, so she didn't even move. Today was a stressful day; her mind was already tired, she couldn't take anything anymore.

'Can someone even act to that level?' The girl wondered. Could every smile, every action, every word and every emotion a person has shown in more than a year, be fake?

Why? What is it that they are trying to hide? What is it that they are trying to achieve?

Was his situation… the same as hers?

"However, the things you possess, Princess, are." The green-eyed boy continued, removing the ring out of her finger with his eyes locked on hers.

"Well, it is a shame, but you will have to die."

His expression remained unchanged as he said those words.

Yi Ren then moved the hand in which he held the sword at an imperceptible speed, aiming at her heart.