Chapter Ninety-Four: The Liberated Moonlight Sword

The woman’s face was unreadable; no one could tell whether she was pleased or angered.

You Xiyue did not avert her gaze. She admitted it on her own, though her voice lacked conviction.

“I...”

Hua Mian, the lord of the Light Domain, looked down at You Xiyue, who stood a head shorter than she did, and fell silent.

Everyone still kneeling drew a sharp breath.

In their hearts, they were all certain that You Xiyue was finished.

Who would have thought that Hua Mian suddenly burst out laughing instead.

She walked up to You Xiyue.

Drawing close, she put an arm familiarly around her shoulders and bent down to whisper in her ear, gossiping, “Tell me, did you really beat Sang Que up badly?”

“...”

You Xiyue shot her a puzzled sidelong glance, unable to understand how Hua Mian knew that she had been the one who went to the Snow Domain.

Hua Mian smiled smugly and patted her shoulder. “We’ll talk about this once we get to my sanctuary. There are too many people here.”

You Xiyue blinked twice, still confused.

Hua Mian straightened, restoring her usual majesty. “From today onward, no one may enter or leave the Light Domain.”

“...”

Some of the crowd grumbled inwardly, but none dared voice it.

“Yes, yes!”

The guards hurriedly agreed and began driving away the people gathered at the gate.

Hua Mian took You Xiyue by the hand and led her into the Light Domain.

Behind them, someone could not help protesting, “She destroyed Spirit Pavilion Tower. Why does she get to go in?”

At the challenge, Hua Mian half-closed her eyes and turned back, her gaze sharp enough to pierce through a person. “What did you say?”

The man clamped his mouth shut and dared not utter another word.

“Hmph.” Hua Mian turned back again and continued walking with You Xiyue.

The instant she turned her head away, her expression shifted back into one of eager gossip. “Come on, tell me, how did you beat Sang Que? You have no idea, that Sang Que fellow may have a lower cultivation than I do, but I still find it hard to gain the upper hand against him in a fight. That Snow Domain fan of his is said to be some kind of great Dao artifact, with Dao intent within it.”

“It wasn’t me who beat him,” You Xiyue answered honestly.

“Not you? Impossible! The Snow Domain has someone marked by my Spirit Pavilion Tower. I can steal the memories of anyone marked by that tower.” As soon as Hua Mian finished speaking, she seemed to realize she had let slip something remarkable. Embarrassed, she covered her mouth. “Ahahaha... that’s all in the past... I was just bored and looked at other people’s gossip. Besides, wasn’t that tower destroyed by you? Haha... it’s all in the past...”

So that was how she knew.

You Xiyue nodded in understanding and took out the Moonglow Sword.

Hua Mian examined the sword in confusion. “And this means what?”

“It was this sword that beat him. If you want to know, let it tell you.”

“What? Just a sword? And it beat Sang Que?” Hua Mian was both stunned and delighted.

You Xiyue tapped the Moonglow Sword, and it regained the power of speech.

And with more excitement than Hua Mian herself had at the moment.

“Damn, I was about to suffocate.”

The Moonglow Sword floated into the air, spun around joyfully twice, and came to hover beside Hua Mian.

“You want to know how I taught that Snow Domain lord a lesson?”

“Yes, yes.” Hua Mian’s eyes shone.

The two of them, one person and one sword, were unexpectedly a perfect match.

You Xiyue suddenly stopped and told the Moonglow Sword, “I’m going to look for someone. When you’re done talking, come back on your own.”

“Yes, Master.” The Moonglow Sword agreed at once.

At last it could speak freely; there was nothing more wonderful in the world.

Hua Mian bade farewell to You Xiyue and led the Moonglow Sword toward the sanctuary, never knowing that this was the beginning of her nightmare.

Relying on the memories in her mind, You Xiyue took many twists and turns before finally arriving at Mount Unbound.

Though it was called a mountain, it could barely be counted as one. There were many peaks, but none were tall; in only a few steps one could almost reach the summit, and each peak was crowned with a palace.

These palaces were nothing other than the places where alchemists refined pills.

Almost all of the most powerful alchemists in the sacred land were in the Light Domain, all of them on Mount Unbound.

It was called Mount Unbound because these alchemists were subject to no one’s control or restrictions.

Not only that, most of them were revered and supported.

In this world, alchemists were as rare as weapon refiners.

And unlike weapon refiners, alchemists generally possessed astonishing cultivation.

An alchemist had to know not only how to control fire and refine pills, but also how to produce all sorts of pills suited for cultivation.

Over time, it would have been strange indeed if their cultivation were not high. In some cases, it was likely that what they had was not true pills at all.

This place was also almost a forbidden ground to everyone except alchemists, because when alchemists were refining pills, they were not to be disturbed.

For that reason, numerous high-level protective arrays had been set up at the mountain’s entrance.

Anyone who barged in unexpectedly was usually either dead or badly injured.

You Xiyue did not particularly want to disturb these people in their refining, so she did her best to avoid damaging the protective arrays and slipped inside with great care.

She had some recollection, from Wang Yu’s memories, of where Lan Shi was.

She quietly approached.

Fortunately, Lan Shi was not refining pills at the moment. Otherwise, it would have been impossible to tell how long she would have had to wait before she could go in and disturb her.

You Xiyue knocked on the door.

“Who is it?”

Lan Shi’s wary voice came from inside. For someone to approach her residence without her noticing, this person must be no ordinary figure, and she instantly grew tense.

You Xiyue pushed the door open and walked in. “It’s me.”

“You?”

Lan Shi came to the doorway in surprise and looked past You Xiyue toward the path behind her. “How did you get in? Are the protective arrays on Mount Unbound really that useless?”

You Xiyue scratched her cheek. “I suppose so.”

“...”

Lan Shi did not think it was the least bit all right. She instantly felt that the Mount Unbound she lived in was far too unsafe, for a little girl had simply walked right in. Then something else occurred to her.

“You’ve reached Saint Emperor cultivation?”

“A little higher...”

Lan Shi refused to believe it. “How much higher?”

“Well... high enough to shake Spirit Pavilion Tower to pieces...”

“...”

Lan Shi dragged You Xiyue inside, shut the door, and said somewhat nervously, “You... really shattered Spirit Pavilion Tower?”

“Yes.” You Xiyue’s eyes were clear and innocent.

“And Hua Mian, that old woman, just let you off?” As she spoke, Lan Shi began rummaging through the room.

“I’ll find you some disguise pills. Hurry and run. I can’t hide you here either. For her, that tower is practically half her life.”

“Is it? Was it that important?” You Xiyue became conflicted, thinking that perhaps she really ought to compensate Hua Mian for something.

“Of course it was.”

Lan Shi stuffed a pile of bottles and jars into You Xiyue’s hands. “She’ll definitely come after you very soon. There’s a special teleportation array on Mount Unbound that can take you outside without passing through the Light Domain’s entrance. Go through there.”

“...”

You Xiyue looked down at the heap of bottles and jars. “My sword is over there telling her stories. It probably won’t be back for a while. I’m not planning to leave yet.”

“Your sword? Telling stories?”

Lan Shi felt as if she understood, and yet did not understand at all.

You Xiyue set the pile of bottles and jars on the nearby table and sat down. “She said she wanted to hear my Moonglow Sword talk about how it beat the Snow Domain lord, Sang Que, so I left the sword with her and came here to find you first.”

Lan Shi thought she needed to sort this out from the beginning. She sat down across from You Xiyue, poured herself a cup of tea, and poured one for You Xiyue as well.

“So what you’re saying is that the one who single-handedly stormed into the Snow Domain and turned everything upside down was you?”