The Feint

They dressed again. By now, the sky was growing lighter, and the gales outside had weakened considerably.

“Heh heh, now let’s see who’ll come out on top.” Xiao Siyu cracked her knuckles, her eyes flashing with a cold light. She was ready to head out and fight Lei Lie to the death.

Yuan Xing quickly grabbed her arm. “You’re just going to charge out and fight him like that?”

“Of course. I’m back to my peak strength now. What’s there to be afraid of?” Xiao Siyu sneered. Both were at the Late-stage of Qi Refining, equal in cultivation. The fight would come down to their artifacts, skill proficiency, and combat experience.

“How confident are you in defeating him?” Yuan Xing asked.

“Probably… Hmph, at least sixty percent.” Xiao Siyu thought for a moment, then put her hands on her hips defiantly.

“That’s still too dangerous,” Yuan Xing countered. Generally, unless a situation was a hundred percent safe, he wouldn’t take the risk. In this lawless society, one wrong move meant death.

“Even if it’s dangerous, I have to go. What, should I just wait here for him to find us?” Xiao Siyu was briefly annoyed by his caution, but then she remembered he was only at the Initial-stage of Qi Refining. It was natural for such a weakling to be timid. She waved her hand dismissively. “Don’t worry, I’ll protect you.”

“No, I mean we can create a situation where you have a hundred percent chance of winning,” Yuan Xing said with a smile.

“Huh? A hundred percent? How?”

“Right now, how strong does Lei Lie think you are?”

“In his eyes… probably only twenty to thirty percent,” Xiao Siyu replied, her eyes lighting up as she caught his drift.

There were only two ways to recover spiritual power: one was to circulate it yourself through meditation, and the other was to receive it from someone else through dual cultivation or a direct transfer. External aids like pills and spiritual stones could only assist; they couldn’t change the overall recovery speed, at least not at the Qi Refining stage.

Lei Lie would never expect Yuan Xing to willingly transfer his spiritual power to her, because in this world, no “normal” person would ever weaken themselves to help another. Thus, Lei Lie would assume Xiao Siyu had spent the night recovering on her own. A single night would only restore a fraction of her power.

“Exactly. In his mind, you’re crippled. He will underestimate you,” Yuan Xing explained. On the battlefield, especially between evenly matched opponents, underestimating the enemy was the deadliest flaw.

“Mm, so I’ll pretend to be weak, and when he lets his guard down, I’ll strike with everything I have,” Xiao Siyu nodded, her mind racing with the tactical possibilities.

“And I can coordinate with you as well.” Yuan Xing reached into his robe and drew the small sword. As he pulled it out, it transformed into a three-foot green blade. “As long as I ‘kill’ you first.”

Yuan Xing smiled and leveled the sword toward Xiao Siyu.

****

The sky was fully bright. Lei Lie, who had meditated through the night, emerged from his hiding spot. He flew into the air, observing the ground from above to search for his targets.

After a night’s rest, Lei Lie was back at his peak. He was confident he could finish Xiao Siyu in a few moves. The only problem was the harsh environment; the wind and sand reduced visibility, making a visual search difficult.

But Lei Lie had his own methods. He converted his spiritual power into lightning elemental energy and merged it into the storm, letting the wind carry it as a sensory net. It didn’t take long before he sensed a disturbance. He quickly flew toward the source.

Crossing a barren hill, he saw two figures on the ground. When he descended and got a clear look, he was taken aback.

One person lay on the ground, drenched in blood. The other stood nearby, holding a bloodstained sword and panting heavily.

The one lying down was Xiao Siyu. Her eyes were closed and she was motionless, seemingly dead. The one standing was Yuan Xing. Seeing Lei Lie fly over, Yuan Xing looked relieved. He smiled and hurried forward. “You’re finally here!”

“Stop!” The strange scene made Lei Lie extremely cautious. He halted a safe distance away and raised his hand to stop Yuan Xing’s approach.

Yuan Xing obediently stopped and continued, “I’ve already killed her. Now we can finally cooperate and find the Morning and Evening Dew.”

“Oh? You killed her?” Lei Lie’s gaze swept over Yuan Xing and landed on Xiao Siyu’s “corpse.”

“Yes,” Yuan Xing replied quickly.

“With your Initial-stage strength, you managed to kill her?” Lei Lie’s voice was full of suspicion.

“She was nearly spent last night, and she had no guard against me while she was meditating. Plus, I have this high-grade artifact…” Yuan Xing smiled, raising his sword and flicking the blade, producing a clear, pleasant ring.

Lei Lie looked at the sword, his eyes flickering with greed. Indeed, with her strength depleted and her defenses down, a sharp weapon like that could succeed in a sneak attack. The blade was sharp enough to pierce a weakened protective Qi.

Theoretically, it was plausible, but…

Lei Lie suppressed his greed and fixed his eyes on Yuan Xing. “Why did you kill her?”

“She was destined to be killed by you anyway,” Yuan Xing said. “Instead of going down with a sinking ship, I’d rather seek a new master. This is my letter of fealty.”

Lei Lie nodded slowly. “The reasoning isn’t bad, but… ha, that’s not what you said yesterday.”

It was normal for people to change sides when the wind turned, but Yuan Xing’s behavior yesterday had been an anomaly. He had been willing to die to save her.

“Well… at this point, I have to tell you the truth.” Yuan Xing scratched his head, looking embarrassed. “Actually, once she killed the Human-Faced Owl, there was no longer a threat blocking the path to the Spirit Realm. At that point, I realized I could just go in myself and take the treasure.

“She became a liability. If she kept following me, she would only split the final bounty. I had already decided to kill her so I could take everything for myself.

“But then you suddenly appeared and messed up my plan. If you had killed her then, you would have just replaced her as the person I’d have to share with. I had to save her so she could oppose you, allowing me to play both sides for my own benefit.

“I was sure you wouldn’t dare kill me yesterday because you needed the talisman, so I took the risk. But after observing her through the night, I realized her strength was too diminished to stand against you. I decided it was better to just kill her, join the winning side, and settle for a split.”