“Killing intent!” Qianye suddenly became alert and reached out to grab the sword on his knees.


    Yet his movements were still a tiny bit too slow. A wisp of frigid intent touched the back of his neck. Any other expert wouldn’t dare to move at all because that was a vital point, and the sharp, prative aura could easily snap his cervical bones.


    Qianye, however, turned back with a wry smile. “This isn’t funny.”


    Behind him, Li Kuann was once again dressed in a swordsman’s attire. Although Cold Moon’s embrace hadn’t left its sheath, a wisp of sword energy was stretching out toward Qianye’s neck.


    Li Kuann didn’t retract the energy despite Qianye turning back, which brought the energy right in front of his throat.


    Qianye frowned slightly. No matter how powerful his body was, his throat was still a weak point, and Li Kuann’s sword energy was known for its sharpness—even Qianye wouldn’t be able to stand a sh to the throat.


    Li Kuann stared at Qianye with killing intent in her eyes. This puzzled Qianye quite a bit. “Kuann, what’s gotten into you?”


    Who would’ve thought Li Kuann would be enraged? “Kuann is not for you to call!”


    Qianye felt even more bewildered because he had called her by name more than once now. He had already considered her arade since their battle against the Wolf King and naturally started addressing her differently.


    Seeing Li Kuann reacting so strongly, Qianye decided to change his address. “Young Noble Li, what is the meaning of this? I didn’t let you know my movements just so you can ambush me.”


    Li Kuann snorted. “This young noble doesn’t need to ambush you! You think I can’t ughter you with just me and my sword?”


    Qianye stood up, ignoring the sword energy at his neck. “I fear you cannot. Besides, what did I do that you would need to do so?”


    “You…” Li Kuann was stoppered up, and her face flushed red. Soon, her anger turned to frustration. “Can’t exin it to you!”


    Qianye was at a loss. Her de energy was at his throat, yet she still couldn’t exin? When was she going to exin then? After lopping his head off?


    Li Kuann knew she had just lost herposure. She quickly calmed down and retracted her sword energy, saying, “Let it be, I’ll remember this for now. We’ll settle ountster on. Let me ask you, must you really save Song Seven?”


    “Of course.”


    “What if I want to kill him?”


    Qianye couldn’t figure out what was going on. “Why would you want to kill him, when did he offend you?”


    Li Kuann wanted to speak but seemed hesitant. “He… humph! Let me ask you, what will you do if I want to kill him?”


    Qianye’s expression turned serious. “I’ll stop you, of course! Young Noble Li, please stop joking about such things.”


    Li Kaunn took deep breaths, slowly calming herself down. “As it should be… Fine. Since you want to save him, there’s an opportunity before you. Learn this.”


    Qianye caught the booklet Li Kuann had tossed at him and found that it was a certain art. Although he didn’t know the details, he could see from the framework that it was rted to divination.


    “After cultivating this Heart Reflection, one can form a connection with other cultivators of the same art. Both parties will be able to tell if the other party is speaking the truth. Luo Bingfeng gave it to you.”


    “What for?”


    “Luo Bingfeng has agreed to exchange Mortal Enlightenment and Song Zining for your Venus Dawn cultivation art, and I’ve already agreed in your stead. This Heart Reflection is to ensure the transaction goes smoothly.”


    “You! How… Fine, these terms aren’t bad.” Qianye’s mood transformed drastically, but he ultimately epted his helplessness. This was the oue he had been waiting for, perhaps the best.


    “They didn’t do anything to Zining, did they?”


    “Luo Bingfeng promises that Song Seven is alive and uncrippled. As for whether he’s starved or physically tortured, he didn’t say.”


    Qianye heaved a long sigh, saying, “That’s great then. When will the transaction take ce, and how long does this Heart Reflection take to learn?”


    “It can be cultivated in one day. We meet at noon two dayster, where Song Seven was captured.”


    Qianye hesitated for a moment. “Can Luo Bingfeng evene to that ce?”


    “He won’t, as far as I know.”


    Qianye heaved a sigh of relief. “That’ll be best.”


    Li Kuann’s expression was odd. “Are you nning to give him a fake? I would suggest you don’t if you don’t have the full version. Heart Reflection’s powers are fairly mysterious. Everyone would be cultivating it if it weren’t for the high requirements and excessive expenditure. The art will respond if you tell a lie.”


    Qianye shook his head. “Why would I go back on my words if they’re willing to release Song Zining? But there are some problems with my cultivation art. I’m just afraid the other party will change their minds after seeing its contents. It’s good if Luo Bingfeng isn’ting because no one else will unseal such an important item.”


    Li Kuann became curious after hearing Qianye say so. “There are problems with your cultivation art? Is it impossible to cultivate?”


    “Of course it can be cultivated. It’s just that… the difficulty is a bit high.” Qianye almost blushed as heforted himself. He actually wasn’t lying—it was somewhat hard to cultivate the Combatant Form to the Profound Combatant Form. The fiftieth tide, in particr, was a bit more difficult. That Song n Ancient Scroll was also ‘a bit’ difficult. Actually, the Mystery Chapter wasn’t too difficult; the hard part was cultivating both at the same time...


    Just that.


    Li Kuann felt relieved. “So that’s how it is. Which peerless cultivation art isn’t difficult? Don’t worry, I’ve seen a good number of legendary secret arts. All of them have weird requirements, and some are almost impossible to cultivate. With Luo Bingfeng’s knowledge, he naturally won’t make things difficult for you because of this. He can only me himself for hisck of talent if he can’t cultivate it.”


    Qianye felt much more relieved. “Those are reasonable words!”


    Li Kuann became ineffably agitated. “Enough with the ttery and go get ready! Make a copy of your cultivation art and seal it, lest you have nothing to hand over during the transaction.”


    With that, Li Kuann tossed her backpack to Qianye, saying, “The things you need are in here, I’m leaving now.”


    She then left without waiting for Qianye to say goodbye.


    Thetter opened the bag to find special paper, ink, and a number of sealing boxes. He couldn’t help but sigh at Li Kuann’s meticulousness.


    Copying down a secret art was also an art. Copying it word by word would only produce the lowest-level of copies that didn’t have much use. The highest level cultivation arts couldn’t be copied this way, either. Those arts contained numerous unspeakable profundities, so the author would usually leave some origin power to demonstrate the exnations.


    That was what made the noble cultivation arts so valuable. The authors were usually their founding fathers or leaders of resurgence, at the very least well-known experts. Theirprehension of the martial dao would be left for future generations as a supreme treasure.


    In order to better preserve origin power, countless people had racked their brains and experimented with all kinds of retaining materials. Hence, there were materials of all shapes and colors. The national treasure, a secret record hand-written by the founding ancestor, was reportedly recorded in a piece of origin crystal.


    Both the Mortal Enlightenment and Dawn of Scarlet Gold were hand-written by Luo Bingfeng and the mysteriousdy. They couldn’t be faked.


    Now that Qianye was going to write a secret tome, he naturally required special paper, pen, and boxes.


    What Li Kuann didn’t know was that the Combatant Form could actually be copied on any random paper. It would be an absolute waste to use this special paper fit for origin power inheritances.


    As for the Profound Combatant Form, it could only beprehended and not transmitted. Not to mention the fact that Qianye couldn’t write it down, even if he could, there was no vessel capable of containing the power of its vortex.


    Hence, the preparations were much quicker than Li Kuann had imagined. Qianye had finished copying the three secret tomes in little over two hours. The two Song n Ancient Scrolls took two hours, while the Combatant Form, just ten minutes—and that was only because Qianye was writing slowly and carefully. If he was pressed for time, all he needed to do was write the words, Combatant Form.


    Every cultivator under the sky had heard of the Combatant Form.


    …


    Back in Tidehark, Luo Yun was narrating his sessful negotiation with Li Kuann in full detail. After hearing that Li Kuann had agreed to the deal, the city lord praised with a delighted expression, “Well done!”


    Luo Yun, on the other hand, appeared worried. “City Lord, the madam won’t agree to this, will she?”


    “We can’t let her know about this.” Luo Bingfeng reminded carefully. His frown only rxed when the steward agreed.


    That frown had just rxed when it knitted together once more.


    Luo Bingfeng paced around the room, saying, “But Song Zining is currently in the Wolf King’s hands. Now that’s somewhat difficult. Is there any news from their side?”


    Luo Yun replied, “None so far.”


    Luo Bingfeng narrowed his eyes. “No reply, heh, how bold! It looks like I’m being looked down upon just because I’ve been in isted cultivation for many years.”


    These words contained killing intent. Luo Yun stood to the side, not daring to face the city lord’s wrath. The Wolf King’s outstanding power was evident from how he was able to challenge Zhang Buzhou. His sin would be significant if Luo Bingfeng and the Wolf King were to sh because of an inappropriatement.


    Luo Bingfeng said, “How did his injury look when you met himst time?”


    Luo Yun replied cautiously, “I can’t see through the state of his injury, butrge amounts of ancestral power have been applied to certain areas inside Totemic Castle. Additionally, I noticed that they’re preparing for some kind ofrge scale sacrificial ceremony."


    Luo Bingfeng sneered, “Using ancestral power means either war or recuperation. It looks like the Wolf King was heavily injured. That makes things easier, you go to Totemic Castle again and tell the Wolf King that I’lle personally if he doesn’t release the prisoner.”


    Luo Yun was shocked out of his wits. “City Lord, you…”