Chapter 486 – A Return to the Jade Capital, Blossoms Bloom Twice - Part 2

One of the red-robed men darted through a nearby door, only to be dragged out by Li Yuan and smashed into a bloody pulp before he could even scream.

The other tried to run, but Li Yuan activated the Nine Provinces Provisional Patrol Token, using it like a temporary search warrant to track him down. The moment the man tried to change direction, Li Yuan intercepted him and blew him to pieces on the spot.

Once it was all over, Li Yuan felt exhaustion crash over him like a wave. However, he pushed through it.

First, he withdrew his golden avatar, then gathered the three bronze banners Wei Huosheng had dropped. From a distance, he also summoned the Earthfire Sword, thick and black like a chimney, and placed it into a box he had taken earlier from a local shop with his ghost hand. He carried it all into a hidden mountain cave, storing it away for future study.

Only then did he shift forms, shrinking into an inconspicuous little bug, clinging to the bark of a tree to rest.

The wind stirred his wings. Cool and steady.

Today’s spoils? Quite satisfactory.

He began mentally reviewing the battle.

Wei Huosheng hadn’t managed to use the Earthfire Sword, but he had brought out his red armor and those three copper banners.

The red armor wasn’t just defensive; it also served as a temporary power source, recharging him mid-fight.

The banners, on the other hand, were both offensive and defensive, seamlessly integrated. Very practical. Li Yuan figured they were likely third rank spirit artifacts.

He thought back to his own days forging fourth rank spirit weapons. Back then, he’d proudly called them spirit domains, but in truth they were just enhanced spirit artifacts with limited area-of-effect capabilities.

But these banners, like the formation arrays back in the Holy Tree Temple, reminded him of something more, formation flags.

They probably blend some traits of domains with those of spirit weapons,

Li Yuan concluded.

Manifesting a domain through Yin-Yang resonance...definitely third rank combat skill.

But more than that, the way the banners compressed power, then detonated in unison made them particularly deadly.

The key advantage was in the attack frequency. The output remained steady, but the strikes came fast and furious, leaving little room to breathe.

Li Yuan couldn’t help recalling his previous battles with Qing Hancheng and Lu Xuanxian.

Qing Hancheng’s blood garden and Lu Xuanxian’s weapon wheel, the weapons they manifested in their domains could deliver force nearly equal to their own raw attacks.

Compared to those two, Li Yuan suddenly had a realization. He thought of a profession from the world he came from, a class from games before his transmigration.

A

Summoner.

Yes. That was the parallel. Human Soul cultivators, even with their vast domains, essentially fought by using the constructs within their field of control to simulate the effect of

a thousand versions of themselves attacking all at once.

But...it was simultaneous, not multiplicative. The power didn’t stack, just struck all at once.

Still, when compared to Qing Hancheng and Lu Xuanxian, Wei Huosheng’s strength was in another league altogether.

And then there was that bronze beast-shadow.

Li Yuan’s thoughts turned to that final attack, the spectral bronze beast that had emerged from the inferno. His brow furrowed.

Was that beast hidden within the horde from the very beginning? Or...was it a second-phase attack, triggered only after the entire tide of monsters had been destroyed?

Sheng’er said the third rank of Human Soul cultivation also progresses through five stages. First, False Realm of Balanced Yin and Yang. Second, True Realm Revealing Form. Then, Bronze Painting, Silver Painting, and finally, Gold Painting.

Lu Xuanxian and Qing Hancheng probably barely took their first steps into the first sub-realm, False Realm of Balance Yin and Yang.

But what about Wei Huosheng? The bronze beast-shadow... Judging by the color, he’s likely at the Bronze Painting stage, isn’t he?

If that’s the case, then the one in the Jade Capital must be a third rank Human Soul cultivator too...

The little bug perched on the tree, lost in thought and wild speculation.

Wei Huosheng had just been a test case. The situation in the capital was far more complicated than anything in Swallowcloud Province.

Before stepping into that mess, Li Yuan needed to gather every scrap of information he could.

He was still mulling this over when the wind carried the distant sound of battle to his ears.

The little bug’s tiny face tensed ever so slightly in a very human expression. They were already far from Bloomtown. Who could be fighting out here?

Weaklings avoid trouble. But the strong? The strong wanted to know exactly what was happening on their land.

Li Yuan had just taken down one third rank and two fourth rank cultivators. He definitely counted as strong.

So, with no hesitation, he turned his attention toward the sounds of battle.

Through the scrub and trees, he saw a man and woman locked in a standoff.

The woman clearly wanted to escape, but the man stood in her way, eyes cold and fixed on her every move.

At first, Li Yuan only gave it a passing glance, just another scuffle. But when he looked again, his eyes narrowed.

He recognized the woman. It was Bai Lingshui, the Saintess of the White Lotus Cult.

Once upon a time, by pure accident, she had actually helped him out. Gone was the alluring charm she once carried. Whatever she’d been through since her separation from Dian Wei had clearly left its mark.

Now, she stood clutching a short blade, eyeing the disfigured man across from her with wary intensity.

“Fang Jianlong,” she said coldly, “if you want to leave, then go. I’ll pretend I never saw you. Do you really think the White Lotus Cult only knows how to gather intel? You push me, and even if you win, it’s going to make a mess.”

The disfigured man, Fang Jianlong, stared at her with a flickering expression, half doubt and half calculation. Slowly, he lowered the hand adorned with a bracelet of lotus petals and rasped, “Believe me or not, there’s been a massive battle near Bloomtown. I’m just heading a little south, not running away.”

Bai Lingshui exhaled slowly. “That’s what I figured.”

She began backing away, step by careful step.

Fang Jianlong gave her a smile—ugly and crooked, twisted by his ruined face, but a smile nonetheless. He too spread his arms slightly and began retreating in the opposite direction.

The two watched each other closely, each step putting more distance between them.

As soon as the gap widened and nothing seemed amiss, Bai Lingshui suddenly spun and shot off like lightning.

But the instant she turned, Fang Jianlong was already behind her. His fist, wrapped in roaring wind and raw destruction, was flying straight at her back.

Her face went pale with shock.

She recognized the movement instantly,

Stepping Lotus

, a secret art of the Red Lotus Cult. When paired with a specialized Red Lotus Cult spirit artifact, it allowed for a short-distance spatial leap, enabling a sudden strike from an impossible angle.

But Stepping Lotus was a true core secret of the Red Lotus Cult. Only a handful of elites were ever allowed to learn it.

Fang Jianlong, a half-baked defector who’d jumped sects midway through his journey, should never have had access to it.

And yet...here he was.

Somehow, he’d learned it, stolen it or acquired it through unknown means, and now revealed it at the worst possible moment. His hidden trump card.

The Stepping Lotus surged forward. The fist, wrapped in destructive wind, had already closed the distance.

Bai Lingshui clenched her teeth and was just about to spin around and fight with everything she had left, when suddenly, she felt it.

An overwhelming presence locked onto her. A force so vast, so terrifying, that it was like a lone traveler suddenly finding herself face-to-face with a hungry tiger in the wild.

A primal, suffocating pressure from the top of the food chain weighed down on her.

Her limbs went cold. The counterattack she was about to launch vanished from her body before it ever left her thoughts.

This is it...

Her eyes widened in disbelief.

Of all the ways to die, she’d never expected this. All she had done was notice that a Red Lotus Cult elder was trying to sneak away, and that tiny observation had brought death straight to her doorstep.

But then, one breath passed.

The fist still hadn’t landed.

Two breaths.

Still frozen midair.

Bai Lingshui, jaw clenched tight, took a hesitant step forward. She turned slowly, curiosity overtaking fear.

Fang Jianlong’s fist was trembling in place. He couldn’t bring it down.

She turned a little more and caught sight of a shadowy figure nestled in the trees.

That horrifying aura was coming from him.

The shadow spoke, voice hoarse and low, like dry leaves dragging across stone, “If he wants to leave, let him. Pretend you didn’t see anything. Is that fair?”

“Yes, Senior!” Bai Lingshui answered quickly. “I-I didn’t see anything. Nothing at all.”

The shadow turned to Fang Jianlong. “Go.”

And just like that, the oppressive force vanished, like chains being unshackled from their necks.

Bai Lingshui and Fang Jianlong both gasped as their bodies returned to their own control.

They exchanged a look. Neither could speak. Then, with a silent bow to the shadowy figure, they turned—one heading north, the other south—and vanished into the distance.

In the branches, Li Yuan slowly let himself come into view, watching them go as old memories stirred within him.

After a long while, he gave a quiet, rueful laugh and shook his head.

To see two people from his past in one day...it didn’t feel right to let blood spill.

Bai Lingshui had once helped him, albeit unintentionally. As for Fang Jianlong, a name he’d long since forgotten, tucked deep in some dusty corner of memory, it resurfaced now, dragging with it the strange unpredictability of fate.

Once, a promising prodigy turned a traitor of the Blood Blade Sect. Once, a would-be son-in-law of the Sacred Fire Palace. Now? A disfigured elder of the Red Lotus Cult.

Even imagining that story made Li Yuan feel like the world itself was a novel, every character with their own twisting arc.

He’s not the only one with a tale,

Li Yuan thought.

Everyone on this land is carrying one. Mine’s just one among many.

The battle had left him filthy from head to toe. Before heading home, Li Yuan reached into the void with his ghost hand and pulled out a pristine white robe, an identical copy of the one he’d worn when he first arrived.

Youthful, clean, and spotless, he stood beneath the moonlight and checked his reflection in a nearby shimmering stream. Only when he was satisfied did he head back to the wooden hut outside the peach grove.

Out front, Xie Yu sat with her chin in her hands, gazing blankly at the moon.

But when she saw the white-robed youth walking toward her from afar, her eyes lit up like stars. A smile tugged at her lips, forming the sweetest dimples on her cheeks.

Xie Yu walked up to Li Yuan, gently patting her chest in mock relief.

“There was an earthquake just now,” she said. “I was starting to worry about you. Then you showed up.”

“Earthquake?” Li Yuan blinked. “Really? I didn’t feel anything.”

Xie Yu nodded toward the west. “Over there. Didn’t feel far off.”

Li Yuan followed her gaze and suddenly, it clicked. The earthquake...that was him. The tremor from pummeling Wei Huosheng into the ground.

Xie Yu’s fingers lightly smoothed his robe.

“You’re still the same,” she said with a soft laugh. “Even after a fight, you don’t let your clothes get dirty.”

Li Yuan took her hand in his and looked at her—really looked at her, with an intensity that made the air still.

“What is it?” Xie Yu asked, cheeks tinged pink under his gaze.

They had long been like an old married couple, and yet this man—this maddening, impossible man—always carried a charm that made her heart flutter no matter how many times they stood like this.

Li Yuan drew a deep breath. “Yu’er... Let’s leave for the Jade Capital.”

“Mhm.” Xie Yu nodded with a soft smile.

She had already made her decision long ago. If Li Yuan lived, she would live. If he died, then she would follow him into death. Life and death bound them now. So what was there left to fear? What sorrow could possibly matter?

Li Yuan’s grip on her hand tightened slightly. His voice turned gentle, almost hesitant. “Before I go, there are things I need to tell you.”