Stunning Edge

After a long time, she finally heard urgent voices.

“Aoshuang!”

“Miss!”

A pair gentle hands grabbed Qi Aoshuang’s wrists, stopping her out of control actions.

Qi Aoshuang turned around abruptly and met with Feng Yixuan’s pained eyes.

“Enough, Aoshuang. It’s over.” Leng Lingyun’s voice carried to Qi Aoshuang’s ear.

The red aura around Qi Aoshuang slowly faded away. Her gaze also regained focus. Without giving the mangled body another glance, Qi Aoshuang turned around and left.

Feng Yixuan stood in place, watching Qi Aoshuang’s leaving figure. He shared a glance with Leng Lingyun. The both silently agreed not to follow. Currently, Qi Aoshuang needed some time alone.

Everything was in messy. All of them had been killed. After searching through the bodies, they found a small badge that Qi Aoshuang had seen before. It was white with a black bolt of lightning, the emblem of the Black Lightning organization.

They left the stone forest without a word. Qi Aoshuang led in silence, dragging the sword behind her. Everyone else was also silent as they followed her.

“Chirp chirp...” White Emperor called out worriedly from Leng Lingyun’s shoulder. (Translation: Is Aoshuang ok?)

“Peep peep!” Black Feather called out from Feng Yixuan’s shoulder. He waved his claws at White Emperor. (Translation: The hell you worried about? Why would she not be ok?)

Xi Shaoqi led two camels, following gloomily. And so, Qi Aoshuang walked expressionlessly, the Azure Ripple blade leaving a long mark on the ground. The blood had already dried on the blade. No one stopped her, choosing to find her silently.

Night slowly descended. Qi Aoshuang finally stopped. She stabbed the sword into the ground and then sat down. Everyone else shared a glance, then all silently walked over. Xi Shaoqi and Xi Shaosi started to set up camp. Feng Yixuan and Leng Lingyun started a bonfire to prepare their dinner.

“I am seeking the earth spirits and dwarves in order to find something the races own.” Qi Aoshuang slowly became to explain.

Everyone froze and stopped what they were doing. Qi Aoshuang had never explained why they were looking for them.

“I want to assemble the God Feather Heaven Slayer.” Qi Aoshuang spoke softly. Currently, Qi Aoshuang had calmed down. When she saw everyone working diligently, she had felt a sliver of warmth in her heart.

“What is that?” Xi Shaoqi frowned, not understanding.

No one else spoke. They all knew that now Qi Aoshuang had spoken this much, she would tell them what it was and why she was looking for it.”

“The God Feather Heaven Slayer is a matching set of god slaying relics. The Heaven Slayer is a pike, the God Feather a shield.” Qi Aoshuang spoke softly, but her words were like a stone thrown into a peaceful pond, causing ripples and stirrings in their hearts.

Crunch! Xi Shaoqi pinched what he was holding into pieces. Everyone stopped what they were doing, silently watching Qi Aoshuang.

“These relics have been split among the many races. The dwarves and earth spirits have a part, the beastmen and dragons too. Only when they are all assembled can they display boundless might. It can kill the goddess of Light.” Qi Aoshuang looked at her Azure Ripple blade. This weapon was only a sub-relic, incapable of killing the goddess of Light, however the God Feather Heaven Slayer was created by the Father god. Naturally, its power goes without saying.

Everyone had a look of shock.

Before they could start asking her questions, Qi Aoshuang continued on quietly, “The god of Darkness told me.” After she said this, everyone had different expressions.

“Even if humanity’s power surpasses them, they have a Godhead*. Even if we kill the goddess of Light, she can rely on her Godhead to rebirth another body. However, this artifact cann shatter her Godhead so that she can never be reborn,” Qi Aoshuang said icily.

*Throwback to prologue: a godhead is a personality/trait/nature/stone that appears when you cultivate enough and enables you to become an immortal/god

“We are closest to the dwarves currently, so are we visiting them first?” Xi Shaoqi asked.

“No, we are closest to the merfolk.” Qi Aoshuang shook her head. “We shall visit the merfolk first.”

“Ah? Then...” Xi Shaoqi started to say before suddenly remembering something and shutting up. There could only be one reason why Qi Aoshuang had not sent the Temple of Darkness to find the merfolk: she already knew where they were.

“Miss, the merfolk should treat that item like a treasure.” Xi Shaosi stroked his chin thoughtfully.

“Not necessarily,” said Feng Yixuan. “Every race cares about different things. They might not view it as a treasure. Furthermore, they cannot assemble the artifact themselves, so to them, it should not have much use.”

“The dwarves are most fond of metallurgy and cherish their beards the most. The earth spirits love to dig and build. The dragon race, of course, loves money and treasure. I am not certain about the merfolk...” Xi Shaosi frowned.

“Miss, we’re in the middle of a desert. How are we closest to the merfolk?” Xi Shaoqi tilted his head questioningly.

“Indeed, they are in the deep sea. The merfolk love to live in clean seawater. They value secluded and cleanly areas.” Qi Aoshuang nodded.

“But Miss, we don’t know what the merfolk like. However, I am certain they will dislike us.” Xi Shaosi sighed.

“They hate humans the most,” Leng Lingyun said quietly.

“The terrible crimes humanity has committed against merfolk is too disgusting to describe.” Xi Shaoqi shrugged, then continued, frowning. “Because their tears become the highest quality pearls, they are captured and tortured in any way imaginable so that they can cry. Some even sell merfolk eyes as precious pearls. After killing the merfolk, they dry out the corpses and turn them into candles. There are so many atrocities, I can’t be bothered to list them all.” Xi Shaoqi curled his lip and stopped talking.

All of a suddenly, they knew it would be extremely difficult to assemble the artifact.

“We’ll see once we get there. If they aren’t willing, we’ll just steal it,” Qi Aoshuang said righteously.

Everyone broke out in cold sweat. How could someone act so righteously when talking about stealing?

“Actually, we should not need to. The merfolk are extremely proud. Provided that humans treat them graciously, it might be another story.” Leng Lingyun looked down and pondered.

“Graciously?” Feng Yixuan smacked a fist into his palm excitedly. “I have an idea.”

“What is it?” The Xi brothers asked at the same time.

“In a hidden harbor of Yowusali, there is an enclosure that raises merfolk, specifically captured merfolk. Once the merfolk become mature, they give the merfolk a drug, cut their tails, make them grow two legs, and then sell them to humans,” Feng Yixuan explained. “The merfolk are an extremely beautiful race, and before they come of age, they are genderless. Only after maturing do they select their gender. However, the merfolk and forced to select their gender based off of clientele wishes.”

“Young master Feng, how do you know so much?” Xi Shaoqi started to look at Feng Yixuan in a strange manner, then whispered, “Could it be that you bought a mermaid...” Before Xi Shaoqi could finish speaking, he was cut off by Feng Yixuan’s murderous gaze. He immediately swallowed back his words.

“The enclosure originally wanted our Feng clan to become investors. Although it is an extremely profitable business, my father believed it was too cruel and refused. Of course, we also don’t have the authority to interfere,” Feng Yixuan said helplessly.

“Is your plan to save those captured merfolk?” Leng Lingyun asked seriously.

“And destroy the place while we’re at it.” Feng Yixuan nodded. “The merfolk will definitely repay such a great favor. At the very least, they will not attack us when we enter the underwater kingdom, even if we don’t get a warm welcome.”

“Do you know where the enclosure is?” Xi Shaoqi asked.

“Nope,” Feng Yixuan replied honestly.

“Fuck, why are you telling us about it then?” Xi Shaoqi cursed.

“You’re such an idiot. Why can’t we just find it?” Feng Yixuan retorted disdainfully. Xi Shaoqi’s face whitened.

“I...” Xi Shaoqi clenched his teeth.

“As expected of an idiot.” Feng Yixuan rolled his eyes and sighed.

“I’ve had it with you!” Xi Shaoqi threw himself at Feng Yixuan.

“You think you can beat me?” Feng Yixuan dodged agiley and clicked his tongue derisively.

Xi Shaoqi had face planted into the ground and started to spit out sand continuously continuously.

Qi Aoshuang watched on with a faint smile.

Feng Yixuan had been focused on teasing Xi Shaoqi, but he noticed Qi Aoshuang’s rare smile. He let out a sigh of relief in his heart.

When Leng Lingyun saw Qi Aoshuang’s expression, an indescribable feeling flashed across his eyes.

“Black Lightning won’t give up now,” Leng Lingyun suddenly said. “The first time, we tasted their strength. This time, we only broke the barrier from Qi Aoshuang’s knowledge of the Spiritual Eye. What about next time?”

Qi Aoshuang’s eyes also became cold. This time, it was really a lucky coincidence she knew how to break the spell. If she didn’t know about the Spiritual Eye, then perhaps they truly would have been trapped. She had been able to kill them this time because of her increased strength, but how strong were they compared to the rest of Black Lightning? If they were the weakest ones, how powerful was the organization...