Understanding the message, everyone rushed to the mountain gates. There they saw a young man standing with his hands clasped behind his back, dressed in foreign garb. Two other people followed him, their brows heavy and noses prominent. Their long hair fell to their shoulders which was pulled into braids, and scarves were wound about their heads. This distinct manner of dress gave their identities away at a glance.
“We didn’t know that we’d have honored guests coming,” Zhao Chiying said sternly. “Please forgive us for not coming out to receive you. I am Bixia Sect Leader Zhao Chiying. May I ask this distinguished master’s esteemed name?”
“Kunye of the Göktürks. I’m here to pick up my unworthy disciple,” the man said proudly. Then he studied her with a measuring gaze and shook his head. “You are Bixia Sect Leader Zhao Chiying? Rumors called you an extraordinary talent, the one who revived your sect. But now I see there’s not much to you.”
Fan Yuanbai and others were standing behind her. They glared at him angrily for saying such a thing, but privately, Zhao Chiying was stunned.
She suddenly recalled Shen Qiao’s appraisal of Kunye: that he was highly respected in the Khaganate as well as Hulugu’s disciple. Hence, he was incredibly arrogant, but his martial arts were the real deal, and authoritatively so. He wasn’t strong enough for the top ten, but he wasn’t far from them. Regardless of whether he’d tampered with the duel on Banbu Peak, he wasn’t someone who could be trifled with.
For Kunye to say something like that the moment they met, it was obvious he wasn’t simply belittling Zhao Chiying or trying to provoke her. Rather, he could tell that she was suffering from internal injuries and was no match for him.
His eyes were indeed razor-sharp, just as Shen Qiao had described.
Zhao Chiying’s heart sank a little, but she didn’t let it show on her face. “So, the Göktürks’ Wise King of the Left has honored us with his presence. Together, your disciple and Dongzhou Sect’s Ruan Hailou colluded with Lu Feng, a traitor from our sect, and they slaughtered countless Bixia Sect disciples. Can the Wise King of the Left offer any explanation for this?”
Kunye let out a derisive laugh. “Pu Anmi was invited here by the elders of your honored sect. He arrived at the mountain as a guest. Yet what awaited him was not fine wines and exquisite delicacies but the weapons of your honored sect’s disciples. As his shifu, I don’t even know whether he’s dead or alive. Can Sect Leader Zhao offer any explanation for that?”
Now this was pure sophistry. If Kunye and his disciple hadn’t agreed ahead of time that he’d play the fisherman reeling in the net—that he’d come to Bixia Sect and profit off the conflict—then how could he know that Pu Anmi was imprisoned there?
Rage surfaced on the faces of the remaining members of Bixia Sect.
Zhao Chiying hadn’t killed Pu Anmi after imprisoning him, but she couldn’t simply release him either. If word got out that Bixia Sect had yielded to the Göktürks, they’d have little standing left in the jianghu. What was more, Pu Anmi still needed to repay the blood debt he’d incurred by taking the lives of countless disciples.
“You and I both know very well what your disciple has done,” Zhao Chiying said coolly. “It’s pointless for the Wise King of the Left to put up such a pretense. As long as a single member of Bixia Sect is still standing, we will not permit you to take Pu Anmi away.”
Kunye laughed uproariously, like he’d heard some enormous joke. “Zhao Chiying, from what I see, there aren’t even ten disciples standing behind you. Bixia Sect has been a sect in name only for some time now. Where do you get the confidence to speak so boldly? If I kill you today, Bixia Sect will completely cease to exist!”
“You can kill people, but you cannot kill their hearts.”
It was an awfully familiar voice. Kunye’s brows twitched involuntarily, and he twisted around to look. A man carrying a sword walked toward him.
A face that couldn’t have been more familiar—one that Kunye saw even in his dreams.
Because once, he’d fought this man on Banbu Peak.
And that duel had caught the eye of the entire world, and with that, Kunye had soared to fame all across the Central Plains.
And with that, the man before him had been utterly disgraced and lost all his martial arts. Though he’d been fortunate enough to survive, all that had remained to him for the rest of his life was to waste away, gasping feebly for breath.
“Shen. Qiao.” Kunye forced this name out between gritted teeth. His voice was layered with emotions so complex even Kunye himself couldn’t have described them.
“I trust that you’ve been well, Kunye.”
Shen Qiao nodded toward him, the same as he’d done that day on Banbu Peak. But Shen Qiao had been a grandmaster then, helming a sect, someone the entire world admired. And Kunye had just entered the Central Plains and hadn’t yet made his name.
But time had passed and things had changed. Their positions had changed tremendously. Kunye was no longer that Kunye, and Shen Qiao was no longer that Xuandu Mountain Sect Leader.
But how was he still so calm?
From the moment they came face-to-face, Kunye closely scrutinized Shen Qiao, but he couldn’t find even a flicker of misery or dejection.
Shen Qiao was still the same Shen Qiao. He didn’t seem to have changed at all.
No!
He must have, somewhere.
“Sect Leader Shen,” Kunye said suddenly. “Ah no, I can’t call you Sect Leader anymore. Daoist Master Shen, were you injured in your fall from the cliff? There seems to be something a little strange about your eyes.”
“Yes,” said Shen Qiao. “Although my eyes have nothing to do with the fall. Joyful Reunion caused that. As for why and how, surely you know better than I do?”
Kunye shook his head. “You should blame your shidi, Yu Ai. He was the one who poisoned you, not me. I challenged you to a duel, sent you a letter sincerely and honestly, then fought you openly and honestly on Banbu Peak. Everyone saw it; I never made any dishonest moves.”
He looked at the sword in Shen Qiao’s hand and chuckled. “Did you wait for me here because you were dissatisfied with your defeat? Or are you just standing up for Bixia Sect even though it has nothing to do with you?”
“The affairs of the past are like the waters flowing by: they cannot be returned. I’ve waited for you here for one purpose: to ask you for a duel. Dare you accept my challenge?”
Slowly, he drew his sword from its sheath and let it hang, its point toward the ground and lightly quivering. Shimmering sunlight glinted, dazzling, off the metal.
The mocking look on Kunye’s face faded, and his expression became incomparably stern.
He, too, drew the saber from his back.
This battle was destined to happen. It had only been a matter of when.
Kunye felt a thrill running through his bones. Though he’d defeated Shen Qiao before, deep inside his heart, Joyful Reunion rankled at him too. Misgivings about how his victory was achieved remained.
This time, he’d make Shen Qiao wholeheartedly accept defeat!