"Young Master, the prince has spoken. So don't blame this old man for what comes next."
Ye Sandao sighed, though he was not surprised.
In his prince's eyes, sons were common enough. But only a valuable one earned the right to be called the prince's son.
The moment Xiao Jing's order landed, Ye Sandao charged at Xiao Mo, saber in hand.
Xiao Mo flicked the long sword lying under his foot with his toe; Luoxia sprang up and stabbed at Ye Sandao's throat.
In the instant Ye Sandao turned his head to dodge, Xiao Mo was already in front of him. He caught the flying hilt and swept the blade sideways at his skull.
Ye Sandao raised his saber to block at a strange, cunning angle.
"Bang!"
A tremendous impact slammed into Ye Sandao. It did not feel like being cut by a sword—it felt like being struck by a hammer.
Ye Sandao smashed through a rockery, and broken stone rolled across the ground.
"Go!"
Xiao Mo did not press the fight. He turned, gathered Jiang Qingyi in his arms, and headed out.
Jiang Qingyi came back to herself and pounded on his chest like a spoiled, willful little girl: "Let me go! I don't need you to save me! Let go of me!"
"Since you've come, don't even think about leaving." Xiao Jing drew a token from his robe and channeled spiritual power into it.
Just as Xiao Mo was about to fly out of the Xiao estate, the estate's formation woke, shrouding the whole manor so that no one could get out.
Xiao Mo sighed inwardly. What a shame. I was so close.
"Get back!"
Suddenly Jiang Qingyi shouted, braced her hands against Xiao Mo's chest, and shoved him off.
And in that very instant, a saber slash flew through the space between them.
Ye Sandao came at Xiao Mo again.
Xiao Mo met him with his sword.
Their attacks were so fast that nothing could be made out; all that could be seen was the rockeries of the Xiao estate bursting apart one after another and house after house caving in.
Jiang Qingyi dove downward, her long sword aimed straight at Xiao Jing—take the king first, and the rest would fall.
"This prince really has been looked down on."
Xiao Jing sneered, drew his sword, and cut at Jiang Qingyi.
Jiang Qingyi swung her sword in return, and the blade qi tore past them, splitting a deep trench in the ground behind them both.
But Xiao Jing was a Nascent Soul cultivator; killing a wounded Golden Core like Jiang Qingyi was all too easy.
In the gap while the two blades ground against each other, Xiao Jing found his opening; as he released the pressure and stepped forward, he drove a kick into Jiang Qingyi's lower belly.
Jiang Qingyi spat out a mouthful of blood and went rolling over and over across the ground.
Xiao Jing seized the chance and thrust his sword to nail her dead into the earth.
"Clang!"
Just as Xiao Jing was about to finish it, Xiao Mo reached Jiang Qingyi's side and swept his sword upward from below.
Xiao Jing was startled, hurried to block, and was knocked flying ten meters.
"A man at death's door!"
Xiao Jing's brows drew together. He stirred the formation with his mind, and a fire phoenix swooped down at Jiang Qingyi and Xiao Mo.
He truly meant to put Xiao Mo in the ground; there was not a shred of pity in his heart.
Even if cutting the sword bone out of Xiao Mo would scatter his soul so completely that he would have no chance of reincarnation at all, he did not care.
"Boom!"
Xiao Mo shielded Jiang Qingyi behind him and took the blow head-on.
"No!" Jiang Qingyi shouted.
Xiao Mo fell backward. Jiang Qingyi clung to her master and could feel that his life fire was nearly spent.
"Han'er, go kill that woman and cut out his sword bone. With the double pupils and the sword bone both, from now on you will be invincible in this world!" The outcome was settled, so Xiao Jing said to his son.
"Yes, Father!" Xiao Han did not hesitate for even a breath. He walked toward them with a short blade in his hand.
Xiao Han had never once met this brother of his, but he loathed him deeply.
Because no matter what Xiao Han did, he was always compared with Xiao Mo.
It galled him beyond words.
Xiao Mo was nothing but a waste with a transplanted sword bone. What right did he have to be compared with him?
And then, when Xiao Mo learned the sword bone belonged to someone else, he had actually left the Xiao estate to go looking for that woman.
Ridiculous beyond belief!
In Jiang Qingyi's arms, Xiao Mo coughed a few times, then touched his fingertip lightly to the ground.
The ground turned like the surface of a lake, and ring after ring of ripples spread outward from Xiao Mo and Jiang Qingyi at the center.
Before Xiao Han's eyes, the two of them suddenly vanished.
"Father..." Xiao Han whipped his head around, certain the two had fled.
"That sword bone really is remarkable—it let a Nascent Soul sword cultivator produce a sword domain." Xiao Jing stepped forward. "Rest easy, son. They haven't gone anywhere."
Xiao Jing picked up a stone and tossed it. The stone shattered on the spot, as if it had struck a wall of air.
"This is a sword cultivator's sword domain. Xiao Mo pulled Jiang Qingyi inside, which is why they seem to have disappeared."
Xiao Han turned to Ye Sandao beside him and asked,
"How long will it take to break open his sword domain?"
"In answer to Your Highness, this old man needs only three cuts." Ye Sandao stroked his beard, full of confidence.
Every man's sword domain was different.
Xiao Mo's sword domain was a sheet of clear lakewater that mirrored a deep blue sky, white clouds drifting slowly across it.
"Master, you won't die... you won't die..."
Inside the sword domain, Jiang Qingyi knelt on the surface of the lake, wave after wave of ripples spreading out around her.
Mirrored in the water were the shadows of the two of them.
"Silly girl. Nobody doesn't die. It's only a question of sooner or later."
Leaning in his disciple's arms, Xiao Mo's breath grew fainter and fainter.
But the very next moment, stream after stream of water rose from the clear lake surface.
Like ropes, the streams bound Jiang Qingyi and hoisted her into the air.
"Master, what are you doing?"
Jiang Qingyi twisted her arms and legs, but she could not break free at all.
Xiao Mo struggled to his feet and walked toward her one step at a time: "Nothing much. Just giving back what belongs to you."
Jiang Qingyi froze, then began cursing: "Xiao Mo! Are you insane? Let me go—I don't want that sword bone! I can still have my revenge without it!"
Xiao Mo acted as if he had not heard, and simply kept walking until he stood behind the girl.
"Xiao Mo, I'm warning you! If you give me that sword bone, I will never let you go, in this life or any other! I said I would kill every last thing connected to Xiao Jing! You're someone I have to kill too! If your soul scatters, how am I supposed to kill you? I don't want to use something you've used! Get away from me!" Jiang Qingyi's voice grew louder and louder.
But Xiao Mo still paid no heed. Holding his long sword, he opened up Jiang Qingyi's fair white back.
A section of Jiang Qingyi's spine was formed from spiritual power.
Xiao Mo shattered that stretch of spiritual-power spine outright.
"Aah!"
The pain locked Jiang Qingyi's limbs stiff, and she let out a shriek.
Then Xiao Mo guided his flying sword to open up his own back; reaching behind him, he drew out that sword bone.
Holding the crystal-clear sword bone, Xiao Mo set it into her back.
As though coming home, the sword bone fused with Jiang Qingyi at once—even the torn flesh and blood stitched itself shut.
Xiao Mo walked around to face Jiang Qingyi; his body was already dissolving, scattering away as motes of spiritual light.
Xiao Mo looked at his disciple with a smile and laid a hand on her head, just as he had when he first brought her into the sect:
"Qingyi, forgive your master. This is the last time..."