Chapter 80: Bai Ze and Geng Xiao

Geng Xiao paid no heed to any of this. After his first strike failed, he retreated dozens of yards, his figure flickered, and he lunged forward once more, blade raised. The burly man with the ruddy face had no time for further words; he met Geng Xiao's attack head-on, and as they clashed and immediately separated, he shouted loudly, “Geng Xiao, you fool, stop! Stop now! I fear we've stirred up something much bigger than us!”

At the shout, Geng Xiao furrowed his brows slightly. The curved blade he had raised wavered in midair before he finally lowered it, frowning as he asked, “Baize, what are you implying? Is the trouble you speak of referring to that young girl just now?”

Baize glared at Geng Xiao, his expression filled with anger. “What do you think? A girl whose cultivation is merely at the Qi Refining stage, yet she appears here in the Flame Domain—who do you suppose she is?”

Baize’s words made even the cold, stoic Geng Xiao’s face darken ever so slightly. A possibility occurred to him: perhaps the girl was not from the Great World of Cultivation at all. In the Flame Domain, aside from disciples from the Ten Directions World coming to temper themselves, there was another, very special race—the indigenous Flameborn.

If that girl was indeed a member of the Flameborn, and had been killed by him and Baize without cause, not only would they be unable to leave the Flame Domain, but their sects might be plunged into disaster. Geng Xiao’s thoughts fell on this, and his brows involuntarily knit tightly together. He turned his gaze toward where Ji Mo had been, only to find the spot empty. He could not tell where she had been flung by the shockwave—perhaps she had even died from the aftermath of his and Baize’s battle.

The strength of the Flameborn matched the combined might of the Ten Directions Cultivation World. If a single sect opposed the entire Flameborn race, it would be utterly crushed. Fortunately, the Flameborn were not entirely united, which allowed the Ten Directions World a measure of dialogue with them.

Even so, within the Flame Domain, the Flameborn held absolute dominance, and their rules were not to be violated. Luckily, their rules were not excessive, and the cultivators from the Ten Directions World found them reasonable. Every five hundred years, disciples would enter the Flame Domain for tempering, and all knew to avoid those boundaries set by the Flameborn.

One such rule was: all disciples entering the Flame Domain from the outside are responsible for their own life and death. No one interferes, whether in life-or-death combat. If you are able to kill a Flameborn cultivator of equal rank, not only are you not punished, you are rewarded. But if anyone dares to kill a Flameborn disciple of a lower cultivation level without cause, they can expect the most ruthless revenge.

Ji Mo was no more than a child at the Qi Refining stage, yet had seemingly been killed by the aftermath of their duel. If this was discovered, what would happen? Baize and Geng Xiao’s thoughts reached this conclusion, and both their faces grew grim.

“She was blasted over that way. I’ll go check if she’s still breathing.” Baize cast a complicated glance at Geng Xiao, then flashed toward where Ji Mo had fallen. Geng Xiao silently followed. The matter was too grave; even his rebellious nature could not ignore it.

Ji Mo had been thrown nearly six kilometers by the shockwave of their battle. When Baize found her, most of her body was buried in the sand, only part of her face and both arms visible. There were traces of blood at the corners of her lips. With most of her form buried, Baize—relying on a cultivator’s senses—could tell Ji Mo’s life force had not entirely faded, though he held little hope that she might survive.

For cultivators, unless their soul was utterly erased and their body destroyed in an instant, even in death, the life force within the body would not immediately be extinguished.

Ah, let her be alive, Baize thought helplessly, shaking his head. He approached Ji Mo, crouched, and reached out to check her breathing. To his surprise, she was not only alive, but her breath was steady, not the slightest bit disturbed. If not for the blood at her lips, Baize might have suspected she had suffered no harm at all.

He was momentarily stunned, then overjoyed. His heart, which had hung suspended, finally settled. If his senses were correct, the girl before him was only a Qi Refining cultivator, yet had survived the shockwave of his and Geng Xiao’s battle? Were all Flameborn disciples so formidable?

Geng Xiao arrived just then. He glanced coldly at Ji Mo, half-buried in the sand, and asked, “From your expression, is she alive?” Though he appeared indifferent, he was secretly anxious for Ji Mo’s survival—for if she had truly died, calamity would surely befall his sect.

“Yes. Our luck holds; she is indeed alive,” Baize replied, glancing up at Geng Xiao.

Their relationship was unusual. They came from rival factions, their sects harbored deep grievances, and both were the outstanding talents of their respective generations—natural adversaries. Whenever they met, they would inevitably duel, but their strengths were so evenly matched that neither could claim victory. Over time, besides rivalry, there grew a mutual respect between them.

“Really not dead?” Geng Xiao swept Ji Mo with his spiritual sense, sensing her robust life force. His brows rose as he strode over, crouched beside her, and checked her pulse, finding it strong and steady. He examined the blood on her face, his expression complex.

This was odd indeed. Geng Xiao’s curiosity grew. With a thought, the sand burying Ji Mo parted of its own accord, revealing her whole body. Both Geng Xiao and Baize fixed their gazes on her clothing.

They saw that she wore a garment capable of withstanding a full-force blow from a Nascent Soul cultivator. Logically, with such a protective robe, she should not have been harmed. Yet she had still been thrown by their shockwave. How could this be explained?

“Perhaps the robe’s defensive function hadn’t been activated, only passively absorbing part of the impact, so she survived,” Baize ventured hesitantly.

A Qi Refining child, yet gifted with such a protective robe by her elders—this spoke to the favor and attention she received among the Flameborn. Fortunate that she lived; if she had died, their lives would be marked by this disaster, and who knew what dire consequences would befall their sects. Baize and Geng Xiao let out a simultaneous sigh of relief.

If they had known that Ji Mo had received this robe simply because Ao Feng had tossed it to her on a whim, and that its defensive mode would not activate except to block the most basic attacks, they might have felt quite differently.

When Ao Feng gave Ji Mo the garment, he thought: if Ji Mo is clever and lucky enough to survive the Flame Domain with the robe, she passes the trial. If not, and dies here, it’s just poor fortune. The inheritor of Blue Moon Divine Palace needs not only outstanding talent and good character, but luck is also an essential trait.

Two hours later, Ji Mo slowly opened her eyes. The first thing she saw was two faces she never expected to see hovering before her. She frowned slightly, tugged at her cheeks, and muttered, “What bad luck. These two nearly killed me, and now they’ve chased me all the way to the Underworld.”

The Underworld? Yes, she reasoned—if she was seeing them here, had they fought to mutual destruction? Karma, indeed! Ji Mo’s thoughts spun, and she couldn’t help but snicker with schadenfreude.

“Heh, little girl, sorry to disappoint you. We’re both alive and well,” Baize read the look in Ji Mo’s eyes, finding it both funny and awkward, but he had to shatter her illusion.

What? Alive and well? Then how were their faces in front of her? Oh—she must be alive too. Ji Mo’s slow-witted mind finally snapped back into gear.

The reason she had immediately assumed she was dead upon waking was that she saw Baize and Geng Xiao’s faces. She didn’t believe that two such reckless men, who cared nothing for the innocent—fighting heedlessly and nearly killing her—would be concerned for her life, much less come to check on her.

“Little girl, what’s with that look? It’s true we didn’t pay attention to you when we were fighting, but you can’t blame us for that,” Baize felt a bit embarrassed under Ji Mo’s gaze, but couldn’t help defending himself.

“Oh, so you blame me instead? Right, I’m at fault for being weak and shouldn’t have appeared before you. But when you two were fighting to the death, I didn’t barge in; you came to me, then told me not to leave!” Ji Mo’s anger flared at his words. She shot up from the ground and glared at Baize and Geng Xiao.

It was no wonder she wouldn’t yield. Ji Mo’s temperament was a mix of laziness and stubbornness, but she had her principles. In a situation like this—clearly the victim, yet still blamed—she wouldn’t tolerate such reversal of truth, even if she had little authority due to her weak cultivation.

“Ahem, ahem, that’s not what I meant. As a Flameborn, you should have hidden yourself when our battle began. We never expected you to…” Baize coughed, his dark face seeming even darker, feeling a headache as he realized just how difficult the little girl before him would be to deal with. (To be continued...)