Chapter 232 Riding the Wind on a Sword

Feeling Xiao Xie’s burning breath, a faint blush spread across Shao Siming’s ears.

“Are you embarrassed? How adorable, my darling wife.” Seeing the pink tint on her ears, Xiao Xie could not help teasing her with a laugh.

As soon as he finished speaking, countless vines shot out from the surrounding woods and lashed toward him. Yet the moment they struck the three-foot aura barrier around his body, they were immediately deflected. Rebounding with tremendous force, the vines whipped through the nearby trees and snapped their trunks in two, sending a flock of birds fluttering into the sky.

“Darling wife, that won’t do. Let your husband show you how it’s done.” With one arm around her slender waist, Xiao Xie formed a series of hand seals with the other. At once, all the leaves and vines around them fell still. No matter how Shao Siming changed her seals, she could no longer command them.

“How is that? Surprised?” Feeling the quickened beat of Shao Siming’s heart against him, Xiao Xie wore a smug expression. “Your husband has always been quick to learn. I’ve already mastered your Myriad Leaf Flower Flow, and I’m even stronger than you. As long as I wish it, every leaf and vine within three kilometers of me will be beyond your control.”

Xiao Xie had held Shao Siming partly to take advantage of the closeness, but also to sense the Yin-Yang energy within her body. During the time he had embraced her, he had already learned how to transform his own internal energy into the same kind of power. He also knew several forms of ninja sorcery, which had originally evolved from Yin-Yang arts, so there were certain similarities in the hand seals as well.

His earlier teasing had not been solely because her silence made her fun to provoke. Another reason was that he wanted her to use more Yin-Yang arts while she was angry, allowing him to memorize every hand seal she formed. Yin-Yang arts were essentially created by combining several basic seals in different ways. Xiao Xie had already committed all those fundamental seals to memory.

Once he converted his internal energy into Yin-Yang power and memorized the casting seals, using the Myriad Leaf Flower Flow became easy. The Yin-Yang energy within Xiao Xie was more than twenty times greater than Shao Siming’s. Naturally, with every leaf and vine within three kilometers under his command, she could no longer use the technique.

Shao Siming said nothing, but her slightly widened eyes and unsettled heartbeat revealed the turmoil within her.

When he saw her stop forming seals and abandon her resistance, Xiao Xie smiled. “That’s my good darling wife. You know how to listen to your husband.”

Shao Siming silently rolled her eyes at him. She could not defeat him, nor could she escape. Besides, the man did not seem to harbor any real hostility toward her, so she gave up resisting.

“Mmm, you smell wonderful. Darling wife, is that your natural fragrance?” Xiao Xie leaned close to her cheek and drew in a deep breath. The delicate scent calmed his thoughts considerably, though he deliberately cried out in exaggerated delight.

With a sharp slap, Shao Siming struck at him with her free hand.

Xiao Xie raised his own hand and blocked the blow, beaming brightly. “Darling wife, don’t rush to anger. Your husband is about to take you somewhere fun.”

For some reason, seeing Shao Siming’s expressionless face made Xiao Xie want to tease her. Even when she grew angry, he found her adorable.

He formed another series of seals. Countless leaves immediately gathered beneath their feet, swirling together until they formed a gigantic green sword. Pulling Shao Siming into his arms, he leaned toward her ear and said, “Darling wife, watch your husband take you into the sky.”

The moment he finished speaking, the green sword beneath them shot rapidly upward. Carrying them both, it soon pierced through the clouds.

Looking down at the sea of clouds below, astonishment filled Shao Siming’s violet eyes. As one of the five foremost experts of the Yin-Yang School, she had consumed countless rare treasures before cultivating the Yin-Yang energy she possessed now, energy comparable to a century of pure internal force.

With the power inside her, she could also use the Myriad Leaf Flower Flow to rise into the air, but doing so would consume an enormous amount of Yin-Yang energy. Yet Xiao Xie had carried two people above the clouds with ease. Just how profound was his power?

“Darling wife, beautiful, isn’t it? We’re going to speed up now!” Seeing the shock on her face, Xiao Xie raised a three-foot aura barrier around them. He then formed several seals, and the green sword beneath them began racing across the heavens. From time to time, it plunged into the clouds and burst out again. Protected by Xiao Xie’s aura barrier, Shao Siming felt none of the bitterly cold wind outside.

As the breathtaking scenery below shifted constantly, a trace of delight appeared in Shao Siming’s beautiful eyes. Reaching the sky had been one of humanity’s oldest dreams. This kind of sword flight was entirely different from riding a mechanical bird. A mechanical bird did not truly fly on its own; it relied on changes in air currents. Xiao Xie’s sword, by contrast, could fly wherever he wished and even perform complete three-hundred-and-sixty-degree turns.

“Darling wife, spread your arms. I’ll slow down in a moment so you can properly enjoy the beauty of flight,” Xiao Xie whispered beside her ear.

A flicker of doubt crossed Shao Siming’s violet eyes, but she still obeyed him and slowly opened her arms. She did not understand why she was listening to Xiao Xie. Perhaps the shock of being carried through the sky on a flying sword had simply overwhelmed her.

Seeing her obediently extend her arms, Xiao Xie reduced the sword’s speed and dispelled the aura barrier. A gentle breeze swept over them, lifting Shao Siming’s countless purple strands of hair. Their fragrant ends brushed against Xiao Xie’s cheek.

Feeling the breeze against her face, Shao Siming kept her arms outstretched. Her entire body seemed to be massaged by countless tiny hands, and she gradually relaxed. Never before had her body and spirit felt so comfortable. Xiao Xie’s large hands remained firmly around her waist, giving her an unprecedented sense of security.

For one brief moment, Shao Siming wondered how wonderful it would be if time could stop right there.

Xiao Xie inhaled the faint fragrance of her hair and began singing the theme song from Titanic, My Heart Will Go On. He sang of seeing and feeling someone across the distance, of a love that endured beyond time and separation. At that moment, no song could have been more fitting.

Shao Siming could not understand the foreign-language song, but she still found it beautiful. Good music could touch the heart regardless of borders. Though she did not know what Xiao Xie was singing about, as she watched him repeatedly call her his darling wife, his teasing no longer seemed quite so hateful. In fact, she found herself secretly hoping he would say those words again.

***

In the central hall of Mohist Mechanism City, not long after Xiao Xie departed, Wei Zhuang and his men clashed with Gai Nie and the others.

The first battle was between Gai Nie and Wei Zhuang. Although Gai Nie had been ambushed by the Black Kirin and was fighting while wounded, he deliberately allowed Wei Zhuang to use Sharktooth to break his sword, Abyssal Rainbow. Then, taking advantage of Wei Zhuang’s carelessness, he used the broken blade to defeat him in a single move.

However, Gai Nie was too indecisive to kill his junior fellow disciple, Wei Zhuang. In the end, Wei Zhuang stabbed him with a sword, leaving him gravely wounded and hovering between life and death.

From this, it was clear that Gai Nie was essentially obsessed with protecting his younger brother, much like Itachi of the Uchiha clan. No matter how many times his brother mistreated him, he continued to cherish him as though he were his first love.

Afterward, in order to completely shatter the Mohists’ resolve, Wei Zhuang captured Tianming and used the boy as a wager against them. They agreed to settle matters through three contests, with victory going to the side that won two. If the Mohists won, Tianming would be released. If they lost, he would die.

The first fighters were the Mohists’ Big Iron Hammer and Wei Zhuang’s mechanical warrior, the Invincible Demon. In the end, after Big Iron Hammer unleashed his hidden potential, he narrowly defeated the Invincible Demon. However, the battle left him unable to fight any longer.