When Steward Zhan said that, Liu Xiaolou immediately felt something was wrong. Was this guy not on the same side as Zhao Ruyu?

After a moment’s thought, he raised his voice and refused more firmly: “Steward Zhan, please don’t force me to break the rules of formation masters. Otherwise, I’ll never be able to make a living in this field. If you have questions, you’ll need to bring them up with Steward Zhao. I’m afraid I can’t agree to this.”

His words were loud enough, yet they didn’t draw out Zhao Ruyu, who Liu Xiaolou had been hoping was secretly nearby. That left him feeling a little uneasy.

Steward Zhan was still smiling, but now there was a thin dagger in his hand, delicate as a cicada’s wing. It floated above his palm, spinning. First up and down, then side to side, until it blurred into a ball of light.

With a buzzing sound, the light sphere lifted from his hand and circled around Liu Xiaolou. The display alone made Steward Zhan’s cultivation clear. He was on par with Zhao Ruyu. At least at the peak of Qi Refinement. It was as good a threat as any.

“You were hoping to draw Zhao out? I’m afraid you won’t get the chance. I’ll say this one last time. Three questions. Answer them, and I’ll let you go.”

Liu Xiaolou kept silent. He only glared at Steward Zhan, his peripheral vision tracking the flashing blade as it spun around him, ready to defend himself at any moment.

“First,” Steward Zhan began, “how did Zhao Ruyu find you? Did he come himself, or through someone else? Second, what’s the weakness of the formation? Did you discover it, or did he tell you? Third, after you repaired the formation, what did he promise you in return?”

Liu Xiaolou took a moment to think. “This spot is right in the middle of the path, open on all sides. Not the best place to talk. Steward Zhan, why don’t we find somewhere more secluded… perhaps a cave nearby, or one of your sect’s buildings?”

Steward Zhan smiled again, gave a short “Come with me,” and led him toward the southeast side of the mountain path. After a few turns, they did in fact come across a cave.

It was drafty, but still much better than where they had been before. Liu Xiaolou lifted his wrist slightly. “To answer Steward Zhan’s questions,” he said, “I’ll have to explain why I came to Jade Goose Peak in the first place. It’s a long story, I just hope you won’t mind hearing me out.”

“Go on.”

“A close friend of mine once heard from one of his friends that there’s a ten-thousand-year-old pine on Jade Goose Peak. My friend couldn’t figure out what was so strange about that, since Jade Goose Peak belongs to the Luofu Sect, and of course such a place would have spiritual treasures. But then his friend said, ‘Don’t you want to break off a pine branch? That tree has endured countless storms, been struck by lightning again and again, and absorbed the essence of the sun and moon…’”

Liu Xiaolou began telling his story, wandering further and further off track. After a long while, he still hadn’t gotten to the point. Steward Zhan’s brows knitted tighter and tighter as irritation welled up inside him. “Talk about yourself, stop rambling!” he barked at last. “Just tell me this; did you come here on your own, or did Zhao Ruyu bring you?”

“Steward Zhan, your three questions don’t really get to the heart of things. What is it you actually want to know?” Liu Xiaolou asked.

Steward Zhan drew in a deep breath, trying to suppress the restlessness building inside him. “Just tell me, what did Zhao Ruyu say to you? How much does he really know about the Earth Gate Formation?”

Liu Xiaolou was taken aback. “How much does Steward Zhao know about the Earth Gate Formation? Steward Zhan, that question truly leaves me puzzled.”

By now Steward Zhan felt a heat burning through his body, his mind growing agitated. In his frustration, he nearly struck Liu Xiaolou across the face. Suddenly he snapped to attention and shouted, “What trick are you playing? Did you poison me?”

A rope suddenly wound itself around him, locking down more than a hundred and forty acupoints across his meridians. At the same moment, Liu Xiaolou’s Three-Mystery Sword appeared in his hand, its tip glowing with a foot-long sword-light that curled around Zhan’s neck.

Caught off guard, Steward Zhan found half his neck pinned by the Three-Mystery Sword. Shock and fury surged in him as a gleaming light slipped from his hairline. Whatever the treasure was, it lodged itself squarely against the inside edge of the Three Mysteries Sword’s glow.

Blocked by that gleaming light, the Three-Mystery Sword's sword-light failed to finish its cut across Zhan’s throat. It only left a bloody line on his neck before the gleaming light forced the sword-light aside. The sword-light ricocheted at an angle and sliced off both his earlobes, trailing two streaks of blood.

In that instant, Liu Xiaolou confirmed Zhan’s cultivation. At the peak of Qi Refinement, not yet at Foundation Establishment.

To strike at someone at Qi Refinement peak and still land a decisive blow... this Bewildering Fragrance was truly potent!

But that was as far as it went. Liu Xiaolou didn’t dare linger. The Mysterious True Cord and the Three-Mystery Sword vanished back into his keeping in the blink of an eye. At once he bolted, shouting as he ran: “Murder! Someone’s posing as a Luofu steward and ambushing travelers!”

He didn’t dare use the formation disk. To bring it out would mean trapping himself along with his opponent. He had no confidence he could rely on the formation to fight Steward Zhan. If the formation were broken through and his own true qi ran dry, he’d be left with nothing but his neck on the chopping block.

Running and shouting at the same time was a tactic completely foreign to disciples of great sects like the Luofu. Steward Zhan clearly didn’t know how to deal with it. In the moment of hesitation, Liu Xiaolou had already put more than ten yards between them.

But he quickly pulled himself together. The smile that was always plastered on his face had long since vanished. Feeling the blood soaking his neck, he was seething with both rage and frustration. His anger flared higher and higher. He knew full well that cultivation required calm and steadiness, that he shouldn’t let his temper get the better of him, but he just couldn’t hold it back.

At this point he didn’t care about anything else, nor did he bother to ask another word. All he wanted was to cut that shameless formation master in front of him into pieces.

A streak of sword-light chased after Liu Xiaolou, striking again and again, each slash faster than the last. On open ground, not even ten Liu Xiaolous could have escaped being cut down. But this was Qingxia Valley, thick with trees and ancient forests, steep slopes and jagged rocks everywhere. And since Steward Zhan had yet to reach Foundation Establishment, the sword-light wasn’t fully under his control. Liu Xiaolou darted left and right, and the successive strikes all missed, chopping through trees or shattering rocks instead, each one barely off the mark. The near misses only made Steward Zhan’s eyes burn red as his blood surged.

Clenching his teeth, Steward Zhan threw out another life-saving hairpin he carried, deciding to attack with both at once.

As the sword-light and the hairpin closed in from both sides, ready to trap the thief ahead, a surge of green light suddenly burst before his eyes. And a low buzzing rang in his ears.

Steward Zhan tried to recall the hairpin to protect himself, but it was already too late. A streak of green light grazed his waist, and he suffered a grievous wound on the spot.

An ancient bronze sword, simple in design, flew out ten yards with a spray of blood, sliced through two pines, then spun back and pressed hard against Steward Zhan’s neck. The blade dug in so tightly it was nearly cutting into the flesh, with faint traces of blood glimmering beneath the edge.

Zhao Ruyu floated down from a tall tree above, landing lightly with one foot on Steward Zhan’s waist. True qi surged into Zhan’s body, sealing him completely in an instant, while at the same time staunching the wound at his side.

“Well, I never would’ve guessed, Brother Ruoshui. So it was you all along.”

Steward Zhan gave a bleak smile, coughed several times, and didn’t bother to explain. He simply shut his eyes, waiting for whatever was to come.

Zhao Ruyu glanced toward the direction Liu Xiaolou had escaped, hesitated for a moment, but in the end didn’t give chase. Instead, he hauled Steward Zhan up and headed for Shangjie Peak.

At the cliffside courtyard on the left peak, he threw Steward Zhan to the ground, then bowed toward the main hall. “Elder Lu, the man’s been captured. It's Zhan, just as we suspected,” he reported.

After a long silence, a soft sigh came from within. “Guard against everything, yet it’s hardest to guard against betrayal from your own. Take him to the Secluded Cavern first. Tell the disciplinary steward… he’s to be locked away for ten years.”

Zhao Ruyu bowed again. “Yes, Elder.”

From inside the room, Elder Lu spoke again. “You should go and make your own preparations as well. At the inner sect disciple selection in mid-month, see that you perform well.”

Zhao Ruyu’s heart leapt with joy. In that instant, all the months of sun and rain, all the sleepless nights, felt completely worth it.

Just as he was savoring the moment, Elder Lu’s voice came once more. “Family disgrace must not be spread. What of that formation master; has he been dealt with?”

Zhao Ruyu’s chest tightened with unease. He bowed. “This disciple was negligent. I threw everything I had into capturing Steward Zhan. By the time I thought of Li Mu, he had already slipped away.”

Elder Lu was silent for a while. “That’s because you have a kind heart,” he finally said. “Forget it. It isn’t anything serious. Judge for yourself how to handle it.”