‘What in the world is this!’

Geng Young just narrowly avoided a lethal slash to his neck and was sent staggering back, taking several clumsy steps along his way.

‘Vermin!’

His opponent stuck to him like a leech and wasn’t giving him any room to manoeuvre.

‘!’

An upward slash threatened to sever his arm at his shoulder joint.

“Genmo!” he yelled, desperate for assistance.

“Ha!”

Elder Genmo sent a downward chop above the boy’s head that threatened to split him cleanly in half should it hit.

It successfully diverted the boy’s attack, saving Geng Yong’s arm, however, the boy stepped to the side and avoided the blow with such precision that the sword slid against the chain-covered sleeve of his black robes.

What’s worse, he hadn’t allowed Geng Yong to create any distance. He kept him tightly within his striking distance.

‘Get away from me!’

Geng Young’s qi rushed through his body and burst out in a wave which pushed against everything surrounding him.

‘!’

He was forced to tilt his head back to avoid a slash that would have taken both of his eyes.

“Ngh!”

He felt a sharp pain in his abdomen and was sent flying backwards by the boy’s chain-covered black boots.

‘He’s unrelenting!’

Even as he was sent back, the boy kept that same tight distance between them. Genmo’s attacks seemed completely unable to slow him down.

‘To the air then!’

It was clear that the boy’s speed on the ground was superior. But aerial combat was a different beast altogether.

Geng Yong circulated his qi, relying on the rising aspect of his fire element to defy gravity and begin to ascend.

However,

Just as he thought to fly, he felt like he had been plunged into the coldest of waters.

It caused his mind to grow sluggish, which in turn caused his control over his to waver, ultimately bringing him back down to the ground.

The unexpected situation caused him to be unprepared when his feet touched the ground once more.

That was why he was too slow to react to the boy’s next attack.

An attack which cleanly severed his hand.

The boy then pulled a spatial ring from the hand and flicked it toward the three behind the floating symbols before tossing the hand aside.

“You!”

***

“How…” whispered Meili, “Is that really Shao Tianlan?”

She knew Shao Tianlan was strong —that much became clear after she heard that he defeated Sei Yu in individual combat— but the performance he was now putting on went far and beyond what she knew him to be capable of.

It had previously been her assessment that if she and he were to fight, she would be the clear winner. That was why she felt comfortable calling herself his master.

But seeing him now, he was far outperforming her. His current ability was even above Jihan’s.

Her ears reddened.

Hadn’t she been making a fool of herself this entire time?

It was then that a change occurred.

The young boy raised his hand into the air and a flash of light flew into it.

“Ow!”

That flash of light seemed to have caused him some pain as evidenced by him rubbing his palm.

He then closed his fist around the ring that he had caught, and soon, another item appeared in his hand. A ring of keys which he tossed over to her.

Meili held the keys in her hands and looked back to the boy, unsure of his intent.

“See if one of those will unlock the shackles,” he said. “If they do, would you bring the shackles back for me?”

It took a moment for Meili to fully understand what he was saying.

These were the keys to Jihan’s freedom.

She bowed her head and immediately left the domed area.

***

It was only once she stepped outside the dome that she realised why it had been put up.

Within, she had no idea of the scale of battle that was taking place outside. Just the sight of it alone wasn’t enough to properly convey its intensity.

The moment her body passed the threshold, she felt she had walked into a war zone. Just the passing waves of spiritual perception alone were enough to send shivers up her spine.

And that was not to mention the air itself which seemed to be trembling, pulsating with sword qi that blanketed the region.

Even the very grass under her feet was standing tall as if it were a sea of blades standing at attention.

It was a clear manifestation of the state of oneness with the sword, the first strata of sword intent, and it all seemed to be revolving around Shao Tianlan.

***

‘!’

While still embroiled in intense combat with the young man who came out of nowhere, Genmo noticed something moving at the fringes of his spiritual perception.

Due to the fact that the boy seemed to be focused primarily on Geng Yong, Genmo was able to divert his attention from the fight for a moment.

‘What is she doing?’

It was Meili, who had a set of keys in her hands and was making her way over to Jihan.

‘A set of keys… Where did she get them from?’

Thinking back on it, his attention was drawn to the strange series of actions the boy had performed after cutting off Geng Yong’s hand. He had taken a ring and thrown it toward that barrier.

‘Have they managed to get past its defences to extract the keys?’

Ordinarily, cultivators would place defensive measures on their artefacts. Those would usually attack anyone who attempted to use them without the owner’s permission.

If they had managed to breach the defences on Geng Yong’s spatial ring then…

‘Not good!’

If Meili managed to free Jihan of his restraints, then the situation would quickly spiral out of control.

There was no telling what kind of damage such an event would cause to the relationship between the Lanxiang Clan and the Merchant Guild.

“Stop right there, Meili!”

He immediately moved to intercept her, but his progress was halted by a wave of sword qi.

It would appear that the young man had no intention of letting him go.

“Geng Yong!” he yelled. “They are trying to free Jihan. We must not allow that to happen!”

Understanding his message, Geng Yong began to steer the battle toward Jihan’s direction.

Genmo followed suit.

***

Meili dove forward and narrowly avoided a blast of stray sword qi.

Just as she had gotten back on her feet, she felt blistering heat coming from her left.

She immediately jumped aside, avoiding harm, but the attacks came one after another.

It soon became apparent to her that it wasn’t simply a situation of her being caught in the crossfire.

Instead, it was the result of the two elders burning through their qi to launch wide-scale attacks that Shao Tianlan couldn’t block completely.

Those attacks were inefficient and would be unable to do significant damage to their opponent.

Naturally, the two elders were fully aware of that.

They were also aware that their cultivation levels were several steps above Meili’s, and that as a result, she was vulnerable even to the dredges that would remain after Shao Tianlan took the brunt of the force.

Evidently, she was the one they viewed as the more immediate threat.

That was likely the reason behind their seeming disinterest in the damage they were accumulating by splitting their attention between two fronts.

Of course, none of this mattered to Meili.

She had only one thing on her mind.

***

“Curses!” yelled Geng Yong.

He could see that their efforts weren’t bearing fruit. The monstrous young man in front of them was ensuring that.

Every chance he got, he would mitigate the strength of the attacks that were sent the girl’s way, resulting in her being able to avoid harm.

What’s worse, the occasional attacks sent toward Jihan were blocked completely!

Judging by Lanxiang Genmo’s insistence, the addition of that boy into the fray would result in a complete loss for their side.

‘This is unacceptable!’

To think that they, a pair of experienced cultivators thirty years these youths’ seniors, would be pressured to such an extent…

It brought no small amount of shame.

“You will suffer!”

***

“It’s not this one either.”

Meili quickly switched to the next key, turning it both ways, before again switching to the next.

“Why do there have to be so many?”

Just beside her, the earth was struck by a large icicle which caused the nearby temperature to noticeably decrease.

Looking back, she could see Shao Tianlan holding off the two elders as best as he could, buying her as much time as possible.

Not wanting to waste his efforts, she quickly turned her attention back to the lock.

“Come on!”

Yet another key had failed, and at the same time, she felt a wave of heat brush past the side of her face.

Following that, a flash of light came from a few metres away, the source of which was a patch of burning grass.

The attacks seemed to be getting closer and closer to their target as time went on, causing her to feel a tremendous amount of pressure.

This was both good and bad news.

The fact that Geng Yong was working so hard to stop her meant that one of these keys was likely to work.

Of course, on the other hand, every second was one more chance for those attacks to get through. If they did, she could end up getting seriously injured or worse.

Despite the sense of impending doom, she kept a steady heart, making sure not to disrupt her rhythm, or worse, drop the keys.

‘Last two.’

One of them was bound to work, and of course, it wouldn’t be the one she picked first.

Inserting the last key, she heard a bloodcurdling yell.

“Die!”

She ignored it and the scorching heat that was quickly intensifying behind her.

Click.

It was only after the shackles were finally unlocked that she stood and turned to see a pillar of fire rapidly approaching her.

In the face of that fire that would have others see their lives flashing before their eyes, Meili smiled.

That was because her cousin had stepped in front of her.

He had one hand holding his sword and the other —which was coated in a layer of ice— extended toward the flames.

As soon as the flames reached his hand, he made a grasping motion and uttered the words “Absolute Zero.”

In an instant, the crimson flames ceased all movement. It was as if they had been frozen in time.

Jihan then clenched his hand, shattering the frozen flames into hundreds of shards, all of which melted into nothing before they could even reach the ground.

“You’re finally fighting back,” she said, unable to hide the smile on her face.

Jihan also smiled as he said, “You kind of forced me to, don’t you think?”

After picking up the shackles, Meili turned away from Jihan to hide the tears that were welling up in her eyes.

“Don’t let yourself get captured again,” she said, having no intention of leaving without a response.

“I won’t.”