Seeking Truth with a Sword-Chapter 579 - 522: Burning Coal

To demonstrate her sincerity, Lu Yunan deliberately slowed her flight speed, trailing far behind Li Ang and Galuo. When the effects of the Mountain and Sea Longevity Talisman ended and Li Ang and Galuo descended from the Gang Wind Layer, she still did not catch up. She waited until the vista of a deep rift appeared at the edge of her vision.

So this is Li Yuan? Li Ang wondered as he and Galuo slowly descended to the ground. As soon as they landed, they felt a heavy sense of oppression. The spiritual energy in the surrounding environment was thin and scarce. Their Qi Seas operated sluggishly, like rusting machinery, and their limbs felt as heavy as if filled with lead.

Li Ang looked around. Beneath his feet, the land was a dull gray, contrasting starkly with the lush green of the distant grasslands. It was as if an invisible line separated the two. To the west, the gray soil stretched onward, gradually becoming riddled with tree-branch-like gullies and cracks—evidence of erosion by rainwater due to a lack of vegetation. At the end of the densest network of these gullies lay a bottomless rift, akin to an abyss, filled with a dense, unmoving fog.

"I’ve heard of you, the merchant from Northern Black Mountain." Galuo frowned, her voice tight as she addressed the approaching Lu Yunan. "Who exactly are you? Why are you helping us?"

"In our common goal of opposing Zhao Ming, our positions are aligned." Lu Yunan smiled. "Zhao Ming wishes to ignite war across the land, willing to sacrifice millions, even tens of millions, to achieve this. Neither of you wants your homelands embroiled in conflict, and I... well, I must protect my kin from the ravages of war."

Li Ang’s gaze was sharp as he scrutinized Lu Yunan. He had met the merchant a few times before and had even helped the Imperial Medical Bureau sell a batch of antibiotics to her. This was in gratitude for the wine stone she had shipped on her merchant vessels during the Suzhou Water Poison incident.

"There’s not much time," Lu Yunan continued. "Ghost Shovel has tasted your flesh and can pinpoint your location with unerring accuracy. He could appear at any moment."

As Lu Yunan spoke, she stepped behind the line marking the edge of the grassland. Closing her eyes, her left hand’s fingers danced as if rapidly performing calculations. Before long, she opened her eyes and cast the Earth Melting Technique, creating numerous holes in the grassland soil. Then, she retrieved various talismans from the Brocade Bag at her waist, tossed them into the pits, and used magic to seal the holes.

Suddenly, she turned her head and said earnestly, "A personal suggestion: for the survival of all three of us, you’d best come behind this line and recover some spiritual power."

After a brief pause, Li Ang squeezed Galuo’s hand and pulled her behind the grass line. They began to channel their energy, restoring their spiritual power. Their depleted Qi Seas gradually returned to normal operation, and the heavy feeling lingering in their limbs began to subside.

"I don’t trust her," Galuo whispered from within her Wolf Head Armor. "The Black Mountain people are savage and ruthless, utterly devoid of ethics or morality. Besides, her reason is strange—to protect her people from war? Even if war erupts, how much could it truly affect the Black Mountain Tribe, living as they do in such harsh, cold lands?"

She’s still too naive, Li Ang thought with a helpless, bitter smile. In a full-scale war, no one can remain untouched.

"Let’s take it one step at a time," he sighed, then took out all the remaining Attack Talismans from his talisman plate and embedded them in the ground around him.

Can I survive this? he wondered. The Mountain and Sea Longevity Talisman is gone, and the spiritual power I’ve gathered is far from enough to cross Li Yuan. The rift was wide and deep, as if the very land had been torn in two.

The Bitter Realm Lotus is wilting... Is it because of Li Yuan, or is it an omen of my own fate?

Lu Yunan, who had been meditating with her eyes closed, suddenly opened them. She looked toward the distant horizon and said faintly, "He’s here."

A tiny black dot, rapidly approaching, split the clouds on the horizon. The dot grew larger, and then, with a deafening BOOM, it crashed nearby, sending a plume of dust billowing into the air.

Li Ang slowly exhaled, tightening his grip on his Triangular Spear. Galuo silently unslung her Longbow and drew an arrow from her quiver.

Through the settling dust, the towering figure of Ghost Shovel emerged. His entire body was drenched in blood. His hair and Butcher’s apron were matted with shredded flesh, bone shards, and fragments of internal organs. His face and hands bore numerous severe burn scars. His left eye socket was a blasted, hollow ruin, a single strand of nerve dangling from its edge. Beneath his right ribs, a gaping hole pierced straight through his body—judging by its diameter, the wound was likely from Bian Chenpei’s Starfall.

Such injuries, combined, would have been enough to kill an ordinary person three or four times over. Yet, not only was Ghost Shovel still active, but new flesh was also faintly sprouting from his wounds.

He raised the Chopper in his right hand. With his left, he slowly pulled a cultivator’s severed head—still adorned with a Taihao Mountain hair accessory—from the Chopper’s blade and tossed it into the gaping slit in his own abdomen.

CRUNCH. CRUNCH.

The sound of the serrated edges of the abdominal slit grinding the skull echoed across the desolate grassland.

Ghost Shovel looked at Lu Yunan. "I recall you were supposed to be in the Northern Ice Field by now," he rasped. "Why are you here? Have you betrayed us? Do you understand what Zhao Ming does to traitors?"

Zhao Ming? A traitor?

The words struck Galuo like a thunderbolt. Her eyes widened, and she shot a wary, tense glance at Lu Yunan from the corner of her eye.

Is she in league with Ghost Shovel? Did she deliberately lure us near Li Yuan?

"Betrayal? What betrayal are you speaking of?" Lu Yunan smiled. "Strictly speaking, you were the one who first violated Jun Qianzi’s orders by trying to kill Li Ang instead of capturing him alive. Secondly," she continued, her smile unwavering, "as long as I kill you here, word of this will never get out..."

Before her voice faded, she abruptly clapped her hands together.

The ground beneath Ghost Shovel erupted, layer by layer, as fierce flames surged from the depths of the rock, completely engulfing him.