Firmament Sword

Xu Luo smiled. "This is a transaction."

Li Ye gave a casual smile, then started to lead the way.

The two of them sped along, heading toward the Old Baldy Ridge that Li Kaiyuan had mentioned. Along the way, Li Ye shared some information about the place with Xu Luo.

"It's a massive mountain range that practically runs north to south across the entire Sect Continent. Old Baldy Ridge is one of the major mountains in this range. But unlike the others, not a single blade of grass grows on it. It's covered in jagged, bizarre rocks, and its summit is round. From a distance, it looks just like a bald head, which is how it got the name Old Baldy Ridge."

"I never would have guessed... that Pang Xiaogou would build his own secret hideout in a place like that. It really is true... the most dangerous place is the safest. I doubt anyone would have ever imagined he'd build a base there."

As he spoke, Li Ye glanced at Xu Luo. "Weren't you in the Southern Domain? What brings you all of a sudden to the Sect Continent? Are those rumors about you true?"

Xu Luo chuckled. "They're called rumors for a reason. Most of them are bound to be false."

"So, the legend about you being Beidou's Eighth Star... that's fake too?" Even though Li Ye had no intention of refining a living person into a Peerless Treasure Medicine, he was still quite curious about Xu Luo.

"I don't know about that one," Xu Luo said, shaking his head. "Even I can't confirm it, so I have no idea how they're all so sure."

"I heard it was divined by an Elder Saint from the Huo Family on the Ancient Race Continent, one who specializes in foresight," Li Ye said. His status was considerable, allowing him access to information unavailable to ordinary people.

However, Li Ye didn't press the matter further. It was, after all, a private affair for Xu Luo, and prying too much might cause offense.

"By the way, what are the three conditions you want me to agree to?" Li Ye asked. "Let me be clear, they have to be things within my power. I can't help you with anything beyond my capabilities."

Xu Luo nodded. "Of course, they'll be within your power. As for the specifics, we can discuss them after we've rescued your brother."

The two of them sped onward, moving at an incredible pace. Despite having just endured a major battle, Li Ye was recovering quickly. He swallowed a few Elixirs to temporarily suppress his injuries. Worried that something might happen to his brother, and spurred by a budding desire to compete with Xu Luo, he pushed his speed to its absolute limit.

After a short while, Li Ye had to begrudgingly admit that this guy was far stronger than him. Even when he pushed his speed to its maximum, Xu Luo effortlessly kept pace right beside him.

In the distance, Old Baldy Ridge came into view.

"We're here," Li Ye said. "We should proceed on foot. If we fly, we'll be spotted."

Xu Luo followed Li Ye, and they descended from the sky, weaving through the dense forest below.

Soon, a vast, barren mountain ridge loomed before them.

The mountain's massive stone face was steep and treacherous, completely devoid of vegetation. It exuded a majestic aura, its halfway point wreathed in clouds and mist.

As they drew closer, they found the area's defenses to be incredibly tight. On several occasions, they were nearly discovered!

Even Xu Luo was a little startled. Li Ye, however, was completely astonished. He muttered, "This place isn't far from Honglou Ancient City, yet Pang Xiaogou managed to build such a large base here. Incredible! But... did he really build all this... just to cultivate his own power?"

Xu Luo's gaze, however, was fixed on the mountain itself as he sank into thought.

He had just tried to activate his Treasure Hunting Skill and discovered his entire Sea of Spiritual Consciousness was flooded with a light as brilliant as a blazing sun!

He couldn't even make out what the object was!

'I'm utterly stunned,' he thought. At the same time, he understood. 'There must be an incredible treasure beneath this mountain!'

'And by the looks of it, no one has claimed it yet.' Xu Luo now understood. 'The man Li Ye calls Pang Xiaogou must have discovered the anomaly here and built this secret base because of it!'

A wave of relief washed over Xu Luo. 'It's true what they say, everything happens for a reason. If I hadn't helped Li Ye, I never would have come here, let alone discovered... that an unimaginable treasure exists in this place.'

'It seems... doing good deeds really does pay off!'

Xu Luo thought to himself.

Li Ye, however, wasn't thinking about any of that. All he wanted was to rescue his brother as quickly as possible.

...

"Li Hua, I have to say, I'm surprised... you actually managed to escape... Heh. It seems my earlier assumptions were correct. Even though you despise your brother, he has always considered you the most precious person in the world to him. Tsk, tsk... how ironic. Heh. He risked his life to let you get away. You never expected you'd end up in my hands, did you?"

A handsome young man in a bright yellow robe stood with his hands clasped behind his back, a smile on his face as he gazed at Li Hua, who was bound to an iron pillar.

This was Pang Xiaogou, the great-grandson of the Honglou Ancient Sect's Grand Elder. A rare cultivation prodigy with extraordinary talent from birth, he and Li Ye were known as the Twin Heroes of Honglou!

Both were leading figures among the younger generation of the Honglou Sect.

However, Pang Xiaogou was considerably older than Li Ye, and his strength had long ago reached the Fifth Layer of the Divine Power Realm, allowing him to look down on all his peers in the Honglou Ancient Sect's younger generation.

Even many members of the older generation had to treat him with respect.

The current Sect Leader's descendants were either untalented or female, and the Honglou Sect's succession had always been meritocratic, not restricted to the Sect Leader's bloodline.

Therefore, Pang Xiaogou had always been considered a strong contender for the position of the next Sect Leader!

But Pang Xiaogou wasn't satisfied with just that. He wanted to obtain supreme, unparalleled status!

He wanted his name to thunder across the entire Sect Continent!

By then, the mere mention of the name "Pang Xiaogou" would have to be met with solemn respect!

The young man had sharp brows and bright, star-like eyes. His skin was bronze, his figure tall and slender. He was strikingly handsome, and his smile was incredibly bright and cheerful.

But in Li Hua's eyes, this young man was a demon incarnate.

"Pang Xiaogou... is there something wrong with your head? Why did you capture me? And what does Li Ye have to do with anything? I don't know what you're talking about!"

Li Hua wasn't a fool. Especially after everything that had just happened, he knew perfectly well that the man before him, Pang Xiaogou, had to be the one pulling Li Kaiyuan's strings. He was also... the very source of the discord between him and his brother!

The thought made Li Hua want to tear the man before him to shreds. But he knew he couldn't show the slightest hint of this. Otherwise, if Pang Xiaogou spotted a weakness, he and his brother... would likely have no chance of turning the tables.

"Li Hua... are you playing dumb with me?" Pang Xiaogou said with a faint smile, his gaze calm. "I've been watching over you since we were little. You're jealous of your brother, jealous that he stole everything that should have been yours. I know all of it..."

Li Hua struggled to remain calm, but the fury in his heart was almost impossible to control. He was only seventeen, an age of hot-blooded impulse. Hearing those words, he wanted nothing more than to spit in Pang Xiaogou's face and let loose a torrent of curses.

But remembering his brother's parting words, Li Hua forcibly suppressed the urge. He looked at Pang Xiaogou and said with a frown, "What on earth are you talking about?"

Pang Xiaogou raised an eyebrow. 'Could it be this kid really doesn't know anything?' he thought. 'No, that can't be right. My men at the ambush point saw Li Hua sprinting desperately toward Honglou Ancient City. That's a clear sign that something went down. I just don't know the final outcome yet. I was hoping to squeeze some information out of him first, but now... it looks like that might be difficult.'

Still, Pang Xiaogou wasn't worried. The one who made a move today was Li Kaiyuan, an expert at the Peak of the Fifth Layer of the Divine Power Realm!

With him on the job, the brothers Li Ye and Li Hua stood no chance of resisting!

At this thought, Pang Xiaogou felt a flicker of dissatisfaction with Li Kaiyuan. 'A grand expert at the Peak of the Fifth Layer of the Divine Power Realm actually let Li Hua escape... what a joke!'

'Perhaps... it was because of that new treasure Li Ye got from the Ancestor...' The thought calmed Pang Xiaogou's mind considerably. He stared at Li Hua. 'The treasure your brother has will soon be mine!'

'Since the Ancestor is so biased and never bestows any treasures upon me, then... I'll just take them for myself!'

Pang Xiaogou held a deep resentment for the Ancestor. It wasn't that he'd never gone to the Holy Land to pay his respects, but he had never once received the Ancestor's attention. Forget treasures, he hadn't even been granted a single Cultivation Technique!

Many Honglou Sect disciples with far less talent had received special Cultivation Techniques there. But he, Pang Xiaogou... the self-proclaimed sole candidate for the next Sect Leader of the Honglou Sect, hadn't gotten a single thing!

This was a massive thorn in Pang Xiaogou's side!

It was precisely because of this that Pang Xiaogou had always harbored a secret jealousy and hatred for Li Ye, wishing for nothing more than his swift demise.

"Keep pretending... go on. In any case, you're not leaving here alive today." Pang Xiaogou sat down in front of Li Hua and said nonchalantly, "Where are the people who were with you? You killed them all, didn't you? Heh. You and your brother betrayed the Honglou Sect, intending to defect to the Liejiang Daoist Sect. When your companions found out, you two killed them to silence them. Then, you were happened upon by Law Enforcement Elder Li Kaiyuan. He was going to apprehend you, but you two... you resisted desperately, leaving him no choice but to execute you on the spot..."

"Bullshit! Pang Xiaogou! Aren't you ashamed of spewing such idiotic slander?" Li Hua finally couldn't hold it in any longer and started yelling. "You think anyone is going to believe that?"

When Pang Xiaogou heard the name "Pang Xiaogou," his handsome face instantly darkened. His given name, Xiaogou (小勾), was a homophone for "xiao gou" (小狗), meaning "little dog." Because of this, he had been teased constantly since he was a child, both playfully and maliciously.

As a child, he had often flown into a rage over it, even secretly killing people.

Gradually, as his power and status grew, no one dared to call him by that nickname anymore. He never expected to be called it to his face by a seventeen-year-old boy. He looked at Li Hua as if gazing at a dead man, a slow smile spreading across his handsome face. "I have proof!"

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