Firmament Sword

The person who controls the Divine Maiden Tower wants me, and he also wants the Su Nu Celestial Scripture. He plans to use the Su Nu Celestial Scripture to train a large number of women and then... have them do his bidding!

As he considered the possibilities, an even colder shiver ran down Xu Luo’s spine. ’The person who truly controls the Divine Maiden Tower… is simply terrifying!’

The Divine Maiden Tower... a world-famous brothel, filled with all kinds of peerless beauties.

And men... the more powerful a man is, the more he inevitably surrounds himself with beautiful women.

Xu Luo didn’t dare to let his thoughts venture further. It was all too easy to imagine. If someone were caught in such a scheme, they’d probably never even know what hit them.

They could go to their graves... without ever knowing how they died!

At that thought, Xu Luo felt genuinely relieved. Yet, for the first time in his life, he also felt that his destiny was not under his control.

Even in his past life-and-death battles, Xu Luo had never been this terrified.

”You’re scared, aren’t you?” Xue Chuqing asked softly.

Xu Luo’s body tensed, and the corner of his mouth twitched. ”Yes. I’m truly scared.”

”Don’t worry, I would never do that to you. If I didn’t have this Exquisite Heart, things might have turned out very differently!” Xue Chuqing said gently. ”If I wanted to harm you, I would have acted long ago, and I certainly wouldn’t be telling you any of this.”

”The reason I’m being so candid is that you have some inexplicable quality that attracts me.”

”It’s strange, really. We’ve only met once, yet I’ve fallen deeply in love with you. Luo Tian... tell me, do you also practice some kind of terrifying Cultivation Technique?”

Xue Chuqing murmured.

Xu Luo smiled but said nothing, thinking, ’Good thing I have the Jade Balance Demon Sound up my sleeve! Otherwise, I would have been in real trouble today!’

He had felt something was off right after waking up, so he had secretly used the Jade Balance Demon Sound.

He had let it seep into Xue Chuqing’s Sea of Spiritual Consciousness so subtly that she hadn’t noticed a thing.

A Supreme Great Power had fallen for it before. With Xue Chuqing’s cultivation only at the Great Saint Realm, how could she possibly have escaped?

Xu Luo felt he had no choice. After all, a woman with unknown intentions had suddenly appeared by his side. How could he possibly rest easy without figuring her out?

”So, tell me, who wants me dead?” Xu Luo asked.

”Wind... he died at Celestial Brilliance. Rumor has it that he died at your hands; regardless, it’s connected to you.”

”Hua, Xue, and Yue... they were all Wind’s women. Rumor was that Wind and Yue were a couple, but that wasn’t true. All three of them belonged to him.”

”You killed their man, so how could they let it go? They’ve sworn to kill you and posted a bounty: twenty million Top-level Immortal Spirit Stones for whoever kills Luo Tian!”

”And that... is likely everything they own. It shows just how determined they are to see you dead.”

”They’ve deposited the money directly with the Bounty Guild. When someone kills you, all they have to do is present your head for confirmation, and they can collect the money straight from the guild!”

Xu Luo raised an eyebrow. ”Bounty Guild? Never heard of it.”

”It’s an underground organization in Xi Hezhou,” said Xue Chuqing. ”If you could call Celestial Brilliance the king of Xi Hezhou by day, then the Bounty Guild... is its Emperor by night!”

”Besides Hua, Xue, and Yue wanting you dead, the Jin Family also hates your guts.”

”After great difficulty, they finally produced a peerless genius, Jin Ming, and sent him to Celestial Brilliance with grand ambitions, only for you to ruin everything.”

”Not only did you kill one of their family’s disciples, you also got Jin Ming kicked out of Celestial Brilliance, stripping him of his position as the leading disciple of his generation!”

”That grudge... is immense!”

”The Jin Family has posted a bounty of thirty million with the Bounty Guild for your head. The reward isn’t just thirty million Top-level Immortal Spirit Stones, but also an ancient scripture and a piece of divine material. That material is said to have come from a forbidden zone deep within the Divine Domain!”

”Oh? So many good things!” Xu Luo’s interest was piqued by the Jin Family’s bounty.

Xue Chuqing rolled her eyes at him. ”What, are you actually thinking about going after that reward? Don’t say I didn’t warn you. The Bounty Guild’s headquarters... is probably harder to enter than the gates of Celestial Brilliance itself!”

”If you want to rob them, you’d be better off just killing yourself. It would be a much quicker death.”

Xu Luo laughed. ”Who said anything about robbing them?”

Xue Chuqing paused, taken aback. ”Then what are you thinking? Don’t tell me you’re going to kill yourself and bring your own head to collect the reward?”

Xu Luo rolled his eyes. ”Am I that stupid?”

”Then I don’t get it...” Xue Chuqing said, her bright eyes fixed on Xu Luo.

Xu Luo didn’t notice her expression and continued, ”What if... I were to die in those ancient ruins, in front of many witnesses? Then... wouldn’t the person who ’killed’ me be able to go to the Bounty Guild and collect the reward?”

Xue Chuqing stared blankly at Xu Luo, momentarily forgetting how dense he was. ”If you do that... I suppose it would work. But... are you really planning to go through with it?”

Xu Luo smiled. ”It’s only a spiritual incarnation. I’ll lose some Spiritual Power at most. Compared to that enormous bounty, it seems like nothing.”

Xue Chuqing’s eyes immediately lit up. ”Why didn’t I think of that? If you do that, it’ll definitely work! The Bounty Guild may be an underground organization, but they’re very concerned with their credibility. Otherwise, how could they have become a power on par with Celestial Brilliance?”

As she spoke, Xue Chuqing looked at Xu Luo and couldn’t help but say, ”You’re so cunning, so wicked! When the Jin Family and Hua, Xue, and Yue find out the truth, they’ll probably be so angry they’ll vomit blood. They might even die from rage!”

Xu Luo sneered. ”What? So they’re allowed to come after me, but I’m not allowed to fight back?”

Xue Chuqing sighed. ”I really wasn’t wrong about you.”

...

Her words... made Xu Luo’s heart ache for her. He gently embraced Xue Chuqing and said, ”Give me some time. I will win you your true freedom.”

”Okay. I’ll wait for you,” Xue Chuqing replied softly, her demeanor as gentle as water.

With no formal farewell, Xu Luo left the Divine Maiden Tower. As he glanced back, he thought he saw a figure standing behind the curtains of a window above.

Xu Luo gave a small wave, then turned and walked away.

Inside the Divine Maiden Tower, Xue Chuqing took a deep breath and whispered, ”I hope... I made the right choice. You have to be the man destined for me! This time... I’ve bet everything I have.”

A soft knock came at the door. Fuqu entered, and a single glance at Xue Chuqing was all it took for the worldly-wise madam to understand what had happened. She hesitated before speaking. ”Miss... wasn’t this a little rash? Can he really... be trusted?”

”I trust my judgment. But more than that... I trust my heart!” The fact that Xue Chuqing possessed an Exquisite Heart was a secret known to only one other person in the world—her master, who had long since passed away. Apart from them, only Xu Luo now knew.

Fuqu said, ”None of the disciples from Celestial Brilliance stayed the night last night. I really misjudged them. I thought they were no different from the young masters of the great clans.”

”Celestial Brilliance became the Supreme Great Sect of Xi Hezhou for a reason. How could all of its disciples be degenerates like Jin Ming?” Xue Chuqing said dismissively, then asked, ”What about Du Qingteng?”

”Lord Du... he sent his attendant away, then came by in the middle of the night asking where Young Master Luo went. When I told him he was with you, Miss, he just sighed and left,” Fuqu said. ”To be honest, I feel that Lord Du... might be a more suitable match.”

”You don’t understand.” Xue Chuqing smiled. ”Let’s not talk about that. The people in the sect—they haven’t made any moves, have they?”

”You mean... the matter of the ancient ruins, Miss?” Seeing Xue Chuqing nod, Fuqu continued, ”They’ve probably dispatched some of the younger experts. After all, the temptation is too great for anyone to resist. It’s only natural they’d send people.”

”I understand. You may go. Keep a close eye on those people from the sect and report to me immediately if anything happens!” Xue Chuqing said. ”And... as for our people, tell them... Luo Tian is the man they answer to now!”

Fuqu nodded and departed.

Xue Chuqing stood at the window, gazing in the direction Xu Luo had gone. A small smile touched her lips. ’My man... I know you don’t need it, but as your woman, I still have to do something for you.’