When Yuan Suiyun left the South Study, not much time had passed before the decisive battle. But when he returned to the Taiji Hall, he found that the place was empty. There was no one, no sword, and not even a drop of blood. Only the gentle and indifferent moonlight still calmly enveloped the earth.

He left the palace under the guidance of the imperial guards, and saw his own carriage parked outside the gate, and Ding Feng was sitting silently in the driver’s seat. When he opened the door, he saw Yun Chuxiu sitting in the seat waiting for him, holding a pot of wine in his hand.

“What bad things did you do? Why are you coming out now?” Yun Chuxiu lazily drank his wine and waved at him. Yuan Suiyun sat down beside him and immediately felt his hand warm. It was Yun Chuxiu who stuffed the wine pot into his hand.

Of course the wine was warm, Yun Chuxiu didn’t like drinking cold wine; his body was also warm, and he leaned over as if he had no bones, and his head just happened to rest against Yuan Suiyun.

“Where are the Master and the others?” Yuan Suiyun asked him. Yun Chuxiu said, “After watching the excitement, of course everyone went back to the restaurant first! Let’s go back to sleep too. I’m so tired.”

Yuan Suiyun laughed at him and said, “If you don’t know, you would think you are the one participating in the martial arts competition tonight. You just used Qinggong to climb down the Taiji Hall. Is this worth complaining about being tired?”

Yun Chuxiu laughed and said, “You are wrong. Ximen Chuxue is not tired. I think he will not be able to sleep tonight.”

Hearing this, even Yuan Suiyun, who already knew the ending, could not help but remain silent for a moment. After a moment, he asked softly, “Is that sword good-looking?”

Yun Chuxiu knew he was talking about the final sword that decided the outcome. He shook his head and said, “It doesn’t look good.”

Yuan Suiyun smiled and said, “This should be the most impressive and wonderful sword strike that Master Ximen has made in recent years. It even surpasses the world-renowned Fairy from the Sky by the Lord of Baiyun City. How could you think it’s not good?”

Yun Chuxiu said unimpressively, “That sword was indeed very impressive, but his opponent didn’t want to kill him, he just wanted to die. This was not a sword fight between life and death, but to fulfill his wish and help him die. It is definitely not Ximen Chuxue’s strongest sword! – But because of what happened tonight, his swordsmanship has reached perfection, even my master praised him and praised him as a rare swordsman. His next sword will definitely be extraordinary, I don’t know which unlucky person will experience it in the future.”

Yuan Suiyun raised his head and took a sip of wine: “After the death of Baiyun City Lord, his reputation is now far greater than other swordsmen in the martial arts world. No one will challenge him easily.”

A person’s reputation is like a tree’s shadow. Others did not know that many other stories had actually happened in the Forbidden City tonight, nor did they know that a fierce war would break out in the next few days. What they saw was just a simple duel.

——But Ximen Chuxue must know whether his opponent is seeking victory or death. At the moment when his sword took Ye Gucheng’s life, I wonder if he was happy or lonely?
It is lonely at the top. How lonely and sad it must be for a swordsman like him to lose such a valuable opponent!
Yuan Suiyun drank up the wine in the pot. He was not a person who liked to drink, but at this moment he seemed to have suddenly fallen in love with drinking, so much so that Yun Chuxiu turned around to look at him in surprise and raised his eyebrows: “Do you have something to say to me?”

“Yes.” Since he had already made the decision, Yuan Suiyun said bluntly, “In less than two months, there will be a duel waiting for me. Of course you have to go with me. But before that, it’s time for you to go see Xiao Sha.”

“What?!” As soon as these words came out, Yun Chuxiu sat up straight. He was not concerned about the life and death of his enemy Xiao Sha who had disappeared for a long time, but grabbed Yuan Suiyun’s arm and asked, “Who do you want to duel with!?”

When facing other people’s duels, he was always calm and had a mentality of watching a show, but as soon as it involved his own people, he completely changed his attitude. It was really that the word “duel” had never left a good impression on him – Xiao Donglou had been seriously injured in a duel and paralyzed for nearly 30 years, and his senior brother Meng Chen died heroically in the duel, which resulted in his surviving twin brother Meng Jiao living a life worse than death and almost insane, so that many years later, he still died at the hands of Yun Chuxiu.

Yuan Suiyun held his hand and comforted him, “Unless you are in danger, I will never do anything I am not sure of. Don’t you know that?”

Yun Chuxiu calmly retorted: “Anyone feels that they are fully confident and there will be no problems before things start, especially someone as confident as you – when Ye Gucheng first arrived, wasn’t his momentum greater than Ximen Chuxue’s?”

Of course, he also knew that Yuan Suiyun was not a good person, and he did not follow the code of conduct. He was more likely to cheat others than others to cheat him. Therefore, after calming down, he hurriedly asked, “Who has offended you to make you so impatient?”

“Offend me? That’s true. Not only that, you also know this person.” Yuan Suiyun smiled. “I’m going to kill Shi Guanyin.”

“what!”

Yun Chuxiu called out. Of course, he had not forgotten the name, nor had he forgotten the beautiful face that was almost demonic, but he certainly had not expected that after such a long time, he would hear her name from Yuan Suiyun’s mouth!
“Brother, although I know you always hold grudges, but… aren’t you holding grudges too much?” Although he tried hard to put on a straight face, he couldn’t help but reveal a smug smile. Yuan Suiyun liked his smile, but he still had to say: “It’s not just for you, of course there are other uses, don’t think too much, or you will lose your temper with me in the future.” “Humph!” Yun Chuxiu shrugged at him disapprovingly. Yuan Suiyun hugged him and continued: “Speaking of which, after you were captured by the Shenshui Palace, Chu Liuxiang and others were delayed in Qiuci for a while, but because they were rushing back to the Central Plains to save you, they didn’t stay in Qiuci for long… I really don’t know, is this his luck or my luck?”

“What do you mean?” Yun Chuxiu didn’t understand what he said, so he just continued to ask at his own pace. “So, how confident are you that you can win?”

Yuan Suiyun smiled softly: “100%.”

The old man and Xiao Donglou seemed to have anticipated his sudden decision, and just told them not to underestimate the enemy, and then let them go. They were also packing their bags and preparing to return to Jiangnan together, but Sun Jian planned to stay in the capital for a while and have a small gathering with his friends here.

“Young man, you are really energetic.” Xiao Donglou said this while listening to the singing girl singing the rich Kyoto tune beside him while drinking tea with the old man. “A kid like him is more afraid of being unknown than being in danger.”

“It’s nothing strange. When we were young, we were like this too. We always wanted to prove to everyone that we were better than anyone else!” The old man picked up the teacup and said jokingly. “Once you become famous, everyone knows you. But who can see the blood and tears of the people who are stepped on? But with Suiyun’s arrogance, maybe… one day in the future, this world will be his. Who knows?”

Xiao Donglou shook his head, disapproving: “It’s not that easy to dominate the martial arts world! Throughout the ages, so many people have fallen on this road. Aren’t they the geniuses of their generation? Don’t take too big a step. It doesn’t matter if he dies, but it will be bad if he implicates my A-Tu.”

Hearing this, the old man couldn’t help but laugh out loud: “Whether we two old guys can see what will happen in the future is another matter. Our children and grandchildren will have their own blessings, so let them go. But this time, since he dared to bring Xiaoyun with him, I think he must have made all the preparations.”

Jellyfish Yin Ji obviously had the same idea.

“Your current martial arts are on par with Shi Guanyin. You can certainly win, but losing is not impossible. So don’t get too complacent. Li Qi has been able to roam the desert for decades, and it’s not just his martial arts that he relies on.” She casually gave some pointers on Yuan Suiyun’s martial arts, and motioned to Gong Nanyan behind her to present her gift – the Tianyi Divine Water from the Divine Water Palace.

Although this thing has a delicate name, it is one of the most toxic poisons in the world. People in the Shenshui Palace call it heavy water because one drop of it is equivalent to 300 ordinary barrels of water. It is colorless and tasteless, and there is no antidote. If anyone drinks a drop of it, their whole body will explode and die immediately. It is a treasure in the palace and is very intimidating.

——In the past, the wonderful monk Wuhua sneaked into the Shenshui Palace for this item and deceived and raped the daughter of the jellyfish Yin Ji, Situ Jing, who was pregnant, and committed suicide. In order to cover up this matter, the jellyfish Yin Ji once wanted Chu Liuxiang to bear the stigma of stealing the Tianyi Shenshui and intended to kill him. It can be said that this item is worthy of the name of the most poisonous, and it has stirred up a lot of blood and rain in the world!
But now it is contained in a long white jade bottle with a narrow neck, which looks just like the willow branch bottle held in the hands of the compassionate Guanyin Bodhisattva in the Buddhist scriptures. Who would have thought that this is not the sweet dew from the willow branch, but a deadly poison that can kill people invisibly?

Yun Chuxiu took it and played with it curiously. Seeing him turning it over and over, Gong Nanyue almost turned the bottle upside down to look at it, she couldn’t help but said unhappily, “Since you are so curious, why don’t you open it and taste it? When you get down there, you can even talk about your experience with the ghosts who died under this heavy water!”

Yun Chuxiu was not angry, but instead made a face at her with a smile: “I don’t want it! It’s ok to kill people with this poison, but it makes people die so ugly, isn’t it unfair to my beauty?”

He stuffed the bottle into Yuan Suiyun’s hand, then stepped forward and said to Shuiji Yinji, “Godmother, where are you going next? Are you going back to Shenshui Palace?”

“Why, can you still come with us?” Jellyfish Yin Ji turned her head and glanced at Gong Nanyue, a rare faint smile appearing on the corner of her mouth.

“It’s a rare opportunity to go out for a walk. I went to Qiantang to see the high tide. Nanyan and I plan to go back to our hometown in the countryside to see what the sea looks like now and pay tribute to our old friends.” She said. Who would have thought that this world-famous martial arts master was actually born in an ordinary fishing village?
“Oh…” Yun Chuxiu’s eyes suddenly became gossipy, so much so that Shui Ji Yin Ji couldn’t help but slap him on the head. Gong Nanyan, on the other hand, was not shy at all, but could not hide her pride. “Returning home in glory, revisiting the old place, that’s great! When you go back to Shenshui Palace, don’t forget to bring me a letter. I’ll come to visit you guys when I’m free!”

He sent the two elders onto the carriage and watched them go away. Then he turned around happily and took Yuan Suiyun’s arm.

“Mr. Bat, when can we revisit this place?”

(End of this chapter)