Several flying swords blocked the impulsive Yunli.
Yanqing, forming a sword seal with one hand, asked coldly, "Shuhu, what are you doing here?"
"If I answer just because you ask, wouldn't that make you seem very important, little brother?" the white-haired fox woman said with a smile in her eyes, her tail swaying behind her.
"What's the point of talking to her! This is our turf!" Yunli shouted, her eyes showing no fear of a Sequence Grand Authority. She swung her old iron and was about to charge again.
"Your turf? I doubt it," Shuhu said, surprised. "This is Shenzhou, the prime world, not the Luofu or the Zhuming where you were born."
"Or do you think that the Taixu Frontline, which has only existed for a hundred years, is qualified to challenge me, the oldest Divine Authority, for the legitimate ownership of the land of Kyushu?"
"You!"
"Don't be led astray by that counterfeit's fallacies, Yunli," Yanqing remained calm.
Noticing this, the white-haired fox woman's smile widened. "By the way, little brother Yanqing, you asked me what I'm doing here, right? How about we make an exchange?"
"What do you want to exchange?"
"A question for a question. How did you find me?"
With a sweep of her slender white hand, Shuhu transformed back into the skilled woman.
Compared to the beautiful fox woman, Baiheng, this woman's looks could only be described as passable. However, with the added charm of a thousand years of experience, she exuded a breathtakingly coquettish charm.
Yanqing was unmoved. "Her body was fished up."
Shuhu was surprised. "Well, that's a coincidence. Such a large lake, and to fish them up just like that."
Yunli stabbed her greatsword into the ground and proudly wiped her nose with her thumb. "Didn't expect that, did you? This is what you call 'heaven's net is vast; though its meshes are wide, nothing escapes'!"
"Miss Yunli has a point. Next time, I should just destroy the body and eliminate all traces," Shuhu reflected solemnly.
"You bastard!" the girl fumed.
Shuhu placed her hand on her face again, and her black hair gradually turned white from the tips.
"Indeed, Miss Baiheng's appearance suits me better."
She transformed back into the fox woman and beckoned, "Alright, little brother Yanqing, it's your turn to ask."
The devastatingly beautiful smile made Yanqing dazed for a moment. He understood why the High-Cloud Quintet of the past had been centered around her, and why they had fallen apart after her departure.
But soon, the anticipation of the answer being revealed overshadowed this sentiment.
The young man took a deep breath and said in an extremely difficult tone, "The General... where... where did you take him?"
"The General? Which general?" Shuhu feigned ignorance, blinking her large, innocent eyes. "Little brother Yanqing, you have to be more specific, or I won't understand."
Buzz—!
The veins on the hand Yanqing was holding the sword hilt with bulged, and the flying swords circling him trembled, ready to strike.
Yunli couldn't stand it anymore.
"I mean, where the hell did you take the former Luofu General Jing Yuan's coffin! Do you understand me now!"
The sound waves spread out as if they were tangible, creating transparent ripples in the air.
"Oh! So it's that General Jing Yuan!" Shuhu's face showed "sudden realization." She then touched her lips with a slender finger and frowned. "He was actually taken by—wait a minute, you two, wasn't your previous question 'Why did I come here'? It was because of that question that I made a deal with you in the form of a question exchange."
She shook her head. "If you ask a new question, the price isn't enough."
"You mongrel!!!"
This time, Yunli really couldn't hold it in. She swung her old iron and disappeared, reappearing in front of Shuhu in the next moment, slashing horizontally.
The latter raised her index finger and blocked it with ease.
"Impulsiveness is not a good habit," she said. "Look at little brother Yanqing. Even though he hates me to the bone, he's still standing there without making a rash move."
With a flick of her finger, ding, Yunli was sent flying with her sword, breaking the sound barrier and retreating violently, embedding herself into the mountains on both sides of Kanas Lake.
The sound of collapse followed, and the shattered mountain turned into rubble, burying the hot-tempered girl.
Feeling the sensation from her fingertip, Shuhu shrugged. "Your equipment saved your life."
"Equipment is a part of a Baiye's strength!"
Several sword lights brutally broke through the thousand tons of fallen rocks, and a slightly disheveled Yunli rushed out of the mountain, landing next to her companion again.
As the weapon that had been with the girl since she was young, the sword blank she called "old iron," which was as tall as her, was now mixed with too many top-tier materials.
For example, the Stone of Choice that Schicksal had used to imprison Kallen in the virtual space arc; or the legendary Divine Iron that was used to forge the Ruyi Jingu Bang.
However, this was just the basics. "Baiye" was a title that could only be inherited by the strongest blacksmith of the Taixu Frontline.
And forging, no one had ever said that it was limited to weapons.
The Dragon Transformation Brahma Robe, a handkerchief-shaped defensive item, could be activated with Honkai energy to unfold a thin film to resist enemy attacks, an effect sufficient to withstand continuous attacks from an S-rank.
The Profound Fire Mirror, which could summon the Eight Desolations Fire Dragon to attack, could even cause effective damage to an S-rank with continuous burning, and it had the additional effect of suppressing healing abilities.
The Universe Map, a special secret treasure containing a plane-level world bubble with the power to trap enemies in a void, which could deceive the enemy's senses and imprison them.
The Damage Transfer Scabbard, which could transfer the wielder's damage to others nearby, or transfer others' damage to oneself...
All in all, she was literally armed to the teeth.
Combined with Yunli's current exceptional S-rank combat power, to be frank, even the top S-ranks would have a hard time dealing with her.
"Yes, equipment is a part of one's strength."
Unexpectedly, Shuhu just sighed when she heard this.
She closed her beautiful eyes. "The former 'me' also comforted Yingxing like this. Unfortunately, he's not like you, who has excellent forging talent and the characteristics of a strong person at the same time."
"Are you having a personality split? It's one thing to use someone else's appearance, but to actually immerse yourself in Senior Baiheng's interpersonal relationships, you counterfeit product!"
Yunli mocked, the other hand behind her back trembling slightly.
Yes, even with all the ridiculously powerful weapons mentioned above, just from taking a seemingly casual counterattack from Shuhu, the girl's small hand was still numb and she couldn't hold her weapon properly for a short time.
A Sequence Grand Authority, the strangest of the strange, the ace of the strongest, the supreme being that rules over all, a mobile despair-spreading mechanism.
The basic rules in human form, the world's truth in a suit, a star-killing-level natural disaster that could fight against the entire human civilization single-handedly without falling behind.
Yunli finally understood why Yanqing could be so calm to the point of being cold, even with the sworn enemy who had stolen his father-like master's remains right in front of him.
We can't win.
At least not now.
Even with the two of us together.
「So that's why he didn't notify anyone and came here to confront her alone?」 the girl thought.
Yunli had come on her own initiative. Yanqing hadn't told her to come and die.
But then she thought again and felt that it was not right. Yanqing was calm, not reckless. He wouldn't do something like a heroic self-sacrifice.
The moment he confirmed Shuhu's arrival, he should have reported it and called for backup, setting up an inescapable net.
「Or maybe, even if he called for backup, no one would come.」
Recalling the connection between the Mara-stricken and Shuhu, and realizing that the Taixu Frontline was not a monolithic entity, Yunli couldn't help but bite her pale lower lip.
Seeing that Shuhu was about to go back on her word, Yanqing suppressed his annoyance and asked again, "Then, why did you come here?"
"This was the question we exchanged. I think you should give me an answer."
"That's true. I'm a person who believes in fair trade." The white-haired fox woman had her hands behind her back, her charming smile showing no sign of the martial prowess that had shattered mountains with a flick of her finger.
She winked. "Because I was the one who came up with the idea for this place. The one buried here is also my kind and amiable future compatriot. Realizing that some annoying tomb raiders have come to dig it up, it's only reasonable for me to come and take a look, right?"
Shuhu? Genghis Khan's Tomb? Compatriot? Divine Authority?
Yanqing frowned, and couldn't help but miss the current Luofu General Fu Xuan and the Grand Diviner Qingque.
If those two were here and he threw these keywords into their divination matrix, they would probably be able to quickly deduce the hidden truth, unlike him, who was like a blind man feeling an elephant.
Yunli didn't think that much. "Then why don't you just get rid of those tomb raiders and be done with it?"
Especially that Fuli, with his flirtatious and unruly appearance. What normal girl would like someone like that?
"I wanted to!" Shuhu said aggrievedly. "They are all excellent seeds with excellent talent. If I could eat them all, the Abundance puppets I grow would definitely have infinite potential."
She sighed and pointed at the rain-swept lake. "Look."
The two remained unmoved, their gazes not wavering in the slightest.
"See, I won't launch a sneak attack," Shuhu said in a gentle voice. "If I were to, I would have done it long ago. Anyway, no one will come to support you even if I drag this out. Wouldn't it be a huge loss to miss the next scene?"
"That is, after all, the divine might of the God of Destruction, blooming once again after several years."
BOOM—!!!
As soon as she finished speaking, the surface of the lake, like a dusty bronze mirror, suddenly boiled. Countless bubbles, wrapped in the smell of sulfur, exploded and churned, and a giant flaming sword forged from lava broke through the water.
It was the heavenly fire that burned Sodom, the flaming sword that guarded Eden.
The moment the blade tore through the water curtain, half of the lake was split in two. The evaporated water vapor turned into a crimson cloud pillar that shot straight into the sky, and the fiery torrent rushed like a red dragon that had broken free from its shackles, roaring as it soared into the sky.
When the tip of the sword pierced the clouds, the dark clouds vaporized the moment they touched the flame, and the water mist in the sky was illuminated into a blood-red veil, as if a god had poured cinnabar into the sea of clouds.
The world suddenly fell silent. A waterfall of molten gold poured down from the torn cloud hole, forging the entire water area into a boiling steel furnace.
"Key of Destruction: Judgment of Shamash!" Yunli's eyes were full of excited research desire.
"Siegfried Kaslana!" A faint light suddenly lit up in Yanqing's eyes.
"That's right." The white-haired fox woman, with her back to the molten gold waterfall, sighed. "If I really killed his precious daughter for fertilizer, that hero would definitely fight me to the death."
"I chose to appear at this time for this reason as well." Her tone changed. "The unsheathing of the Judgment of Shamash means that Siegfried has already engaged my compatriot in the tomb. He should be able to hold that man off for a while. During this time, I can kill you without worry, without him interrupting, little brother Yanqing."
"At the cost of abandoning the experimental node in Kanas, I think it's quite worth it to kill you, who's always causing trouble for me in the dark."
For the first time, Shuhu did not hide her killing intent.
She had been annoyed with Yanqing for a long, long time. This guy, relying on his own strength and the intelligence support of the Divination Commission, always found ways to ruin her plans.
Even without this opportunity, Shuhu would have found a time to deal with him later to avoid any future trouble.
As for Yunli, she was prepared to let her go.
The Taixu Frontline wouldn't have much of a reaction to a Sword Champion being killed in private.
There were six others in the other world bubbles with his level of swordsmanship, and the Luofu itself had many swordsmen sharpening their blades. They could just choose another one later.
The value of a Baiye was a different story. Which of those martial arts-oriented higher-ups didn't have a weapon she had forged? Which politician didn't have armor she had forged?
They wouldn't go so far as to avenge her, but they would definitely cause some trouble for Shuhu.
「I'll just cripple the little girl's legs, and use a little trick to prevent them from recovering.」 Shuhu thought happily. Hands were enough for forging weapons.
「Her appearance should still be kept intact. After all, those jade feet, they really delight me.」
Glancing at Yunli's exquisite bare feet on the ground, she took down the silver longbow hanging from her waist.
At the same time, Yunli and Yanqing, realizing that their opponent was finally getting serious, also stood on guard.
The light and agile flying swords and the heavy and sturdy old iron complemented each other. The former was sharp and unparalleled, the latter simple and unadorned.
Having been tempered by time, the two were no longer the naive youths they once were. They could switch between light and heavy swords with ease, the objects in their hands could be as light as a feather or as heavy as a mountain, all for the same purpose.
However, it was a pity that while techniques were indeed invented for the weak to defeat the strong, once the hardware gap was too large, no matter how good the technique, it was ultimately doomed to fail.
"A lively scene. How about we join in?"
Unless, a third party joins the battlefield.
A golden meteor streaked across the sky, landing precisely in the center of the confrontation.
The dust that was kicked up was handsomely cut from left to right with a hand chop, and the radiant and blazing Bright Knight made a sassy entrance.
Azure light wings spewed out from the sides of her silver-white skirt armor, and streamlined armor covered Durandal's tall and straight body. The joints glowed like star trails.
Emerald patterns spread along her shoulder armor to her waist, resonating with the Abyss Flower; her sunny hair flew wildly in the energy vortex, and two phantoms behind her held a sword and a shield, creating ripples of ice crystal-like particles.
The reason Durandal had rushed here was mainly thanks to two people.
First was Kiana. A network chat with her sister a few days ago had informed Bianka that the Hyperion trio was on a mission in the Kanas region of Shenzhou, concerning a great conqueror who had roamed the Eurasian continent eight hundred years ago.
The second was the current Luofu General, the Miracle-Seeing General known as "All-Seeing and All-Calculating"—Fu Xuan.
Unable to act herself, she had someone send intelligence to Durandal: Schicksal's S-rank wanted criminal, Siegfried Kaslana, has appeared in Kanas. His target is suspected to be related to the oldest Divine Authority, Shuhu.
This intelligence was, unsurprisingly, intercepted by Ella.
That was enough.
Otto would allow K-423 to face danger and undergo trials, but facing a Sequence Grand Authority, could that be called a trial? That was like sending a hero straight out of the novice village to face the ultimate LV999 demon king!
Ella was the same, except her stance was to replace the aforementioned K-423 with her good brother, Fuli.
The two, who had hit it off immediately, notified Durandal to come and informed her of the relevant intelligence.
Upon learning that little Li and her sister were in danger, the dorky goose grabbed the Abyss Flower and was about to play god-slayer, but Ella quickly stopped her.
First, she took out the fourth-generation Godsbane Armor "Bright Knight: Excelsis," which was still in development. Then she said that even with this, she was still no match for a Sequence Grand Authority, so they had found a helper for her.
Bianka nodded and asked where the helper was.
Ella flapped her six wings and moved aside, revealing the clueless, brown-haired girl behind her.
With a buzz, the Abyss Flower spear detached from the white flower and flew into the girl's palm like a swallow returning to its nest.
"Her name is Eleanor, Eleanor Schariac," Otto introduced with a smile. "Your great, great, great, great, great senior, a powerful S-rank Valkyrie."
Noticing Durandal's surprised gaze, Eleanor tilted her head in confusion and gave her a pure and innocent smile.
...