FIMA Ch168: Fierce Battle

Gu Siyuan saw that the person beside him had gone speechless for a moment, so he raised a hand and pressed it lightly on top of his head. “Shidi, don’t love me too much.”

Xie Xueyi rubbed lightly against his hand and burst out laughing, then deliberately said, “Gege, why do you always make things so hard for people? For me not to love you even for a single moment would be harder than cultivating the most complicated technique under heaven.”

Gu Siyuan nodded. “Fine. Then I won’t make things difficult for you. You may continue loving me abundantly.”

“…”

Xie Xueyi.

He really was completely outmatched by Gu Siyuan now.

Just then, the waiter came over with the spirit wine and spirit dishes.

Hearing the two of them talk like this, even he—someone who had spent years in a place of chaos and seen all kinds of scenes—nearly stumbled on the spot.

So now even two men could be this sticky and clingy?

Xie Xueyi had still been wallowing in the disappointment of losing to Gu Siyuan in verbal sparring, but the moment he caught the strange expression on the waiter’s face, his own expression changed immediately. His brows lifted, and he instinctively put on that fox-borrowing-the-tiger’s-might swagger of his again.

“What are you looking at? Never seen a loving married couple before? Jealous that I’ve got such a considerate little wife, are you?”

The waiter nearly dropped the wine in his hands.

His bulging eyes swept once over Gu Siyuan’s tall upright build and cold, striking face.

Ah, this world really had gone mad.

A man this masculine, this first-rate under heaven, was actually the one underneath?

The waiter set down the dishes and wine in a daze, then walked away with the whole posture of someone questioning life itself.

Xie Xueyi immediately smirked in triumph and lightly slapped the tabletop.

Then when he looked up again, he happened to meet Gu Siyuan’s half-smiling gaze.

His heart jumped, and he quickly blinked his moist, bright eyes and put on an adorable expression toward Gu Siyuan. “Gege, why are you looking at me like that? Is it because you think I’m cute?”

Gu Siyuan raised a hand and caught his chin. “Mm. You are indeed very cute. Like a naughty little lion.”

At once, Xie Xueyi wisely climbed down the slope offered to him. “As long as gege likes it. I’ll only be gege’s pet alone.”

The corner of Gu Siyuan’s lips lifted, and he tipped his chin toward the table. “Mm. Eat.”

“Okay, gege. Feed me, then!”

Cheerfully, Xie Xueyi slid into the next act.

Gu Siyuan picked up his chopsticks and fed him a couple of bites, then afterward had him eat by himself while he sat at the side studying the weapon fragment they had obtained earlier.

Xie Xueyi was the fussiest sort of creature. Just like back at Taixuan Tower, he had barely taken two bites with his own chopsticks before he started acting spoiled toward Gu Siyuan again. “Gege, this cooking is far worse than yours. Tomorrow you should make food for me yourself again.”

Gu Siyuan looked up, one sword-brow lifting. “Mm. Alright. Don’t act spoiled.”

Xie Xueyi’s eyes were clear and earnest. “Gege, your goodness really has no limit. You cook well, you fight well, your personality is gentle, and even the way you speak sounds nice.”

“Mm. No need to thank me too much. Just like we said before, all of this is thanks to you. The reason I’m this good is that I’ve spent too long by your side.” Smiling lightly, Gu Siyuan toyed with the thing in his hand, his voice low and unhurried.

“Cough, cough…” Xie Xueyi’s face flushed red as he remembered their earlier exchange before entering the city and immediately began coughing loudly.

Gu Siyuan asked with a half-smile, “Shidi, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing.” Xie Xueyi widened his eyes.

For a moment, he truly had nothing to say.

He was absolutely sure now that he could not win against this man.

So he hurriedly changed the subject and pointed at the divine artifact fragment between Gu Siyuan’s fingers. “Gege, have you figured that thing out? Do you know what it is now?”

Gu Siyuan narrowed his eyes and nodded. “Mm.”

Xie Xueyi straightened up curiously. “What is it?”

The fragment turned slowly between his long fingers as Gu Siyuan said calmly, “If I’m not mistaken, this should be a fragment of a demonic artifact blown up from the bottom of Lie Demon Abyss. Quite rare.”

Xie Xueyi’s eyes widened slightly. “Lie Demon Abyss? Isn’t that the place you and the sect master suspected before?”

Gu Siyuan nodded lightly, his voice leisurely. “Lie Demon Abyss is shrouded in demonic miasma year-round, and evil spirits and malicious ghosts move through it. Even someone at Nascent Soul cultivation could not last more than a few days down there. But if one carries a fragment of a demonic artifact, that changes things. Our purpose in coming out this time may be accomplished much faster than expected.”

His gaze swept past the street outside the window, and then he asked Xie Xueyi, “Still eating? If not, we can leave now.”

After all, there were still friends waiting outside…

Seeing his expression, Xie Xueyi vaguely felt that something amusing was about to happen, and immediately stood up in excitement. “Not eating anymore. Let’s go out and walk around. I still want to look around this Wind and Snow City.”

“Alright.”

Gu Siyuan nodded.

The two of them went out one after the other through the tavern entrance. In front of the door were three low transition steps.

Standing at the top of the steps, Xie Xueyi looked at the figure ahead in the snow and could not help calling out, “Gege…”

Gu Siyuan stopped and turned back. “Mm?”

Xie Xueyi jumped up and sprang onto his back. “Gege, carry me.”

“Carry your granny’s balls!”

At that exact moment, an angry shout rang out.

The sudden roar startled Xie Xueyi so badly that he nearly slipped right off Gu Siyuan’s back.

But Gu Siyuan, as if he had expected it all along, already had his left hand steady beneath him to hold him securely.

Xie Xueyi let out a breath of relief and only then turned to look at the growing crowd of red-clothed men surrounding the entrance, along with the thin blue-robed youth Situ Li, whom he had taught a lesson to not long ago outside the city gate.

He narrowed his beautiful eyes, and his face darkened at once. “You actually dared to come back with reinforcements?”

Situ Li, however, carefully avoided his gaze and only said to the leader of the red-clothed group, “Captain Hou, it was them. They stole the treasure this humble one had planned to present to Gang Leader Zhang.”

The people inside and outside Four Seasons Tavern could all tell at a glance that these vicious-looking men had come with bad intentions. In an instant, some hurried to avoid the area, while others stood up to watch the excitement.

“So the Blazing Flame Guards are handling this. The Blazing Flame Gang really made a big move this time.”

“And Captain Hou himself is leading them.”

“How exactly did these two brats offend the Blazing Flame Gang?”

“Tsk, then on the other hand, it also shows these two are probably experts.”

“Heh, these two look unfamiliar. They must’ve just arrived in Wind and Snow City. This is going to be good.”

“…”

Wind and Snow City was a land of chaos, positioned at the border between righteous and demonic spheres of influence, serving as a buffer zone between them.

That was why no sect or power on the continent was allowed to directly govern the city. This had long been a tacit understanding established by both righteous and demonic sides.

No matter how noble your background, once you entered the city, everyone was treated the same.

Still, Wind and Snow City had stood for nearly ten thousand years. Over that long development, some local powers had inevitably grown within it. The Blazing Flame Gang was one of the strongest among them, one of the city’s three great factions.

In the blink of an eye, roughly twenty vicious red-clothed Blazing Flame Guards had already rushed forward, surrounding Gu Siyuan and Xie Xueyi in a tight ring with no path left for escape.

Gu Siyuan could even clearly smell the metallic cold of weapons close at hand.

“If the two of you now obediently cripple your own limbs and meridians and then come with me quietly, perhaps you can still keep your two dog lives. You should know our Blazing Flame Gang, acting under the gang leader’s teachings, has always treated people kindly.” The rough-faced man leading the guards—Captain Hou—stared at Gu Siyuan and Xie Xueyi with sinister menace in his voice.

“Heh… telling jokes in broad daylight, or ghost stories? With talent like yours, why not set up a storytelling stand inside the tavern?” Xie Xueyi, lying across Gu Siyuan’s back, let out a cold and arrogant laugh.

That reaction instantly made the surrounding spectators even more interested.

The harder it was to cleanly wrap up, the more entertaining the next part would be…

“How bold! You dare speak to Captain Hou like that? You’re courting death!”

Before Captain Hou even had the chance to fly into a rage, Situ Li, the blue-robed youth who had brought them here, was already barking at Xie Xueyi while borrowing the tiger’s might, his face twisted hideously.

“Hmph. Everyone who has threatened us ended up in hell.” Xie Xueyi slightly lifted his chin, his gaze settling neither too shallow nor too deep on Situ Li. “Earlier outside the city, I didn’t kill you directly. That moment of soft-heartedness was my mistake. I’ll make up for it shortly. I’ll flay you alive right in the street.”

Gu Siyuan rarely got to see Xie Xueyi in such a sharp, spirited mood, and it stirred a bit of interest in him. Narrowing his eyes, he said softly, “Good. I’ll make sure that one is left properly to you.”

When he said this, there seemed to be the faintest trace of a sigh in his tone, yet also unmistakable anticipation. In the rise and fall of his eyelids, the clear light in his pupils seemed to turn into two naked blades.

Situ Li froze for a moment, then his face turned instantly whiter than all the snow in the sky. His legs began trembling uncontrollably, fear and dread spreading through his whole body.

“Still daring to talk big? Move!” Captain Hou waved his hand immediately.

He himself might not think much of a fellow like Situ Li, but as the saying went, even if you beat a dog, you still had to look at its owner. If these two little brats dared act this wildly in front of him, what would that become?

With Captain Hou’s order, the twenty-some Blazing Flame Guards all drew their blades. The silver-white blade light was almost dazzling to the eye.

A shocking aura of murderous ferocity burst from them, weaving into layer after layer of airtight killing intent like a net, crashing down upon the people trapped in the center like a mountain collapsing.

The surrounding wind and snow grew harsher and more violent, and even those merely watching began to feel an icy pain sinking into their bones.

Yet none of this affected Gu Siyuan in the least. His face did not ripple at all, but at some point his right hand had already come to hold a sword.

“He who brings ruin upon himself cannot be saved.”

A faint but perfectly clear murmur sounded.

This was the sort of moment where swords were drawn and violence hung on a knife-edge, and yet that soft murmur somehow pierced cleanly through all the surging killing intent, through the layers of blade light, and drifted into the minds of everyone present.

Expressions shifted all around. For no clear reason, an ominous foreboding rose in everyone’s hearts.

The twenty-some Blazing Flame Guards charging forward with blades in hand felt it most deeply.

And yet before they could even search for where that ominous sensation had come from—

suddenly, all that remained before their eyes was darkness.

Within that darkness there was only a single flickering point of starlight, stunningly beautiful and yet deadly beyond measure. Instinctively, they tried to close their eyes.

But at that exact instant, something seemed to touch their throats lightly—a snowflake, perhaps, or an icicle. It was cold, and it hurt.

Even more terrifying, they suddenly discovered that in that tiny flash of time, everything before them had turned completely dim and black, and even that single flickering point of starlight had vanished.

Their bodies began collapsing downward out of their control. They wanted to resist, but could not. And in that split second, they vaguely glimpsed that at the throats of all their companions there seemed to be a tiny red mark.

Instinctively, they reached toward their own throats.

In the next moment, those red marks exploded outward, like a dam of floodwaters bursting loose. Blood erupted everywhere like rain.

The sky over that patch of street turned directly blood-red, and even the snowflakes falling from above became red.

Those red points were, of course, the traces left by a sword thrust.

But Gu Siyuan’s sword was simply too fast. Even with a person still on his back, it did not hinder his swordsmanship in the slightest.

Not only the surrounding Foundation Establishment cultivators—even Golden Core cultivators at the same level had no idea when he had drawn his sword, let alone how he had struck.

Everyone only vaguely sensed a bright meteor flashing across their vision like lightning.

And then, in the next instant, the twenty-some Blazing Flame Guards—including Captain Hou—suddenly froze where they stood, limbs spread, utterly motionless.

Then came a single loud crash that seemed to shake the ground itself. With perfect neatness and brutal simplicity, all twenty-plus Blazing Flame Guards, together with Captain Hou, collapsed at once into the pure white snow.

Very soon, the snow drifting down from the sky covered more than half their bodies.

Inside and outside Four Seasons Tavern and along the nearby street, a deathly silence fell—so still one could almost hear the snowflakes landing.

Gu Siyuan flicked his right wrist lightly, and the last bead of blood clinging to the sword tip slowly fell into the thick white snow, vanishing without trace.

Then he sheathed the sword directly and said to the Xie Xueyi on his back, “Your turn.”

“Okay.” Xie Xueyi reluctantly slid down from Gu Siyuan’s back, then glared viciously at the blue-robed youth Situ Li, who by now seemed so frightened he had wet himself.

“You know you deserve death, right? Because of you, I had to get off my gege’s warm back!”

In truth, Xie Xueyi was not that bloodthirsty of a person. He did not really flay the man alive in the street the way he had threatened. He ended it with a single casual sword strike, and that was all.

Under the dumbstruck gaze of the crowd, the two of them then continued walking side by side down the street.

Just after they rounded a corner, a figure stepped out to block their way.

“You two have pretty good skills.”

Looking at the handsome young man before him, Xie Xueyi raised his attractive brows. “Oh? So you also want a taste of it?”

The man ignored him and only stared at Gu Siyuan. “You killed so many of Blazing Flame Gang’s elites. They won’t let this go. No matter how strong you are alone, in Wind and Snow City one man can’t stand against an entire gang.”

Gu Siyuan stood with his hands behind his back, his expression cold. “And your valuable advice?”

The young man was clearly very confident. “Join our Divine Wind Hall. We’ll protect you.”

Divine Wind Hall was one of the three great factions of Wind and Snow City, standing on equal footing with Blazing Flame Gang.

Gu Siyuan raised a brow. “One does not receive gifts without merit.”

The young man lifted his chin. “Your combat strength is high. Our Divine Wind Hall currently needs people like you to participate in the Fiery Contest.”

Xie Xueyi asked curiously, “Fiery Contest? What’s that?”

The young man narrowed his eyes. “You’re new here, so you don’t know. This is a major matter recently decided in Wind and Snow City. In one month, the demonic miasma of Lie Demon Abyss will sink to its lowest level in ten thousand years. Everyone knows Lie Demon Abyss is full of treasures, so each of the gangs will choose several experts to descend into Lie Demon Abyss to investigate and seize treasure in the Fiery Contest.”

Descend into Lie Demon Abyss to investigate?

Gu Siyuan slightly raised a brow. “…”

Xie Xueyi also opened his mouth. “…”

Mm. It was like being thirsty and having water delivered right to the door.

Seeing the expressions on their faces, the young man grew slightly anxious and hurried to add, “You don’t need to worry. Over all these years, our three major gangs have made quite a few spirit artifacts and talismans to guard against demonic miasma. In one month, when the miasma falls to its lowest level in ten thousand years, together with our spirit artifacts and talismans, I guarantee you won’t be harmed by the miasma.”

After a somewhat awkward silence—

Xie Xueyi broke into a grin full of neat white teeth. “Then… we’ll reluctantly agree to participate.”

Gu Siyuan also nodded with perfect sincerity. “Good. In that case, I’m a little reassured.”

“…” The young man blinked.

Why did this feel strange?

He suddenly had the distinct feeling that he was the one being tricked.

Support me on Ko-fi