Dreamer’s Guiding Crane—the Name of His New Sword Technique.

On their journey to the north, the climate turned colder and the night also stretched longer and longer.

Su Yang and Gu Feidi had to continue travelling even during the night to hasten the pace, attempting to go around the northern border to the rear of the E’Luo Gui Faction’s Royal Court in fifteen days.

Although the faction ruled over a vast territory, the majority of the land was permanently covered with ice and snow. The environment was not suitable for animal husbandry and farming, so the local’s main source of food was fishing and hunting. In the water where the prey was scarce, there were almost no human shadows in this region of ice.

Fortunately, the mountains here were covered with a vast stretch of needle-leaved forest, which sheltered Su Yang and Gu Feidi, making them less obvious.

On the seventh night on the ice field, they encountered their first battle against the faction’s scouts.

It was a group of four scouts, and one of them carried a boreal owl. Luckily, Gu Feidi reacted quickly and sliced the messenger bird in half with his sword before it was released. Seeing that they lost their message-bearer, one of the four tried to escape, but Su Yang cut the person off using his fast feet. 

It appeared that the scouts were capable of fighting in a certain ‌formation, and their martial arts style also correlated well with each other. In addition, there was always one in the group roaming about, trying to break through Su Yang and Gu Feidi, or attempting to flee when the two were on the defensive. They worked hard to hold off the attack from four sides—it was not a smooth battle.

Su Yang utilised his Cherished Flower Steps to the extreme, coupled with the deadly attack of the Drunkard’s Plum Wine Slash. He could barely silence one of the scouts who had been trying to escape.

When the battle situation changed into two against three, the duo finally gained the upper hand. The scouts were soon unable to parry, and finally, all died under their blades.

Gu Feidi knew that Su Yang was still not used to the bloody slaughter, so he asked the other man to stand guard while he added more injuries to the dead bodies, making it harder to distinguish the techniques of Tengyun Pavilion and Evil Sect. 

He didn’t waste effort to bury the corpses. First, the traces left from the battle were too obvious, like how the snow and layer of soil had been overturned, which couldn’t be covered perfectly. Second, they found traces of wolves during their journey. It may be assumed that the thick, reek of blood would attract the predators to help them clear up most of the traces here due to the reduced prey in winter.

After handling the area using minimum effort, Gu Feidi left the scene of the battle that very night with Su Yang.

After about half an hour of scuttling in the snowy night, they stopped and were ready to take turns resting.

Gu Feidi admired the clutter of stars in the sky and thought back on the battle earlier, saying, “The sword technique used by those scouts, it was very well correlated. If we encounter more of them in the future, we will not be able to parry. And once someone manages to send a message back to the E’Luo Gui Faction, our whereabouts will be exposed.”

Su Yang nodded. “Fortunately, the Cherished Flower Steps was powerful enough for me to block the man who tried to escape…”

After pondering for a moment, Gu Feidi proposed, “During our time climbing the snowy mountain, the sword technique I wanted to create to match your Drunkard’s Plum Wine Slash was starting to take form. Why don’t you and I make use of this time to make improvements to it. It may be useful during our upcoming assault on the Baiwu Tower.”

Su Yang unquestioningly agreed, “Sure.”

From that day on, the two men hurried their journey on one side and polished up Gu Feidi’s new sword technique on the other side.

As they drew closer to the E’Luo Gui Faction’s Royal Court, they ran into the faction’s scouts more and more frequently. Until, one night, it was no longer the scouts who came to stop them, but the Anying Division from the Heiyu Army, their elite group of assassins.

Luckily, Su Yang and Gu Feidi had been on guard, and these killers’ stealthy movements were worse than Luo Yin. The duo noticed the newcomers’ approach the moment they were a dozen metres away.

“Our whereabouts have been exposed.” Gu Feidi placed his palm on the handle of his sword. He frowned and passed his next message using internal energy, “The Lesser Cold is only two days away...I don’t know what the situation on the senior’s side is either.”

Su Yang was also ready for combat. When he heard Gu Feidi’s voice, he flattened his lips and replied, “I don’t know, and I can’t be caring about them right now. Let’s deal with these guys first.”

As soon as he finished, several assassins sneaked from the side and suddenly showed themselves and attacked with a series of un-flashy attacks, like a sharp arrow. Rushing toward what seemed like two defenceless people. 

Su Yang started with one of Drunkard’s Plum Wine Slash’s moves, Drunkard’s Divine Thought. His sword technique originally didn't have a name, but Gu Feidi named them for him during their time, studying meticulously to create a formidable synchronised technique. 

To cooperate with Su Yang, Gu Feidi danced using his Cherished Heart and performed Dreamer’s Divine Voyage—a move from his new sword technique, Dreamer’s Guiding Crane, which was completely opposite to the peerless ferocity of Hunting Phoenix in Su Yang’s dream. Instead of giving a feeling of burning all incoming aggressive advances, it was a bit more like the harmony of the perfect balance, which skilfully integrated offence with defence, making up for the missing defensive move in Su Yang’s Drunkard’s Plum Wine Slash.

The two sword techniques, where one attacks and another defends, completely blocked all the attacks from the assassins and forced them to stop their advance. 

However, the assassins from the squad paid close attention to the abrupt change. The moment their surprise attack was intercepted, several members that showed themselves were already at a disadvantageous position. Therefore, several members in the group retreated to escape in different directions, like a prearranged agreement. 

Su Yang used the Cherished Flower Steps, lifted his sword and spun in an arc on this small open space. It was a combo of two moves, Drunkard’s Solitude and Drunkard’s Retaliation, blocking three assassins’ escape route to the east.

On the other side, Gu Feidi twirled and leapt behind the two men trying to escape. With his profound internal energy, he slashed with Dreamer’s Fleeing Cloud and swept the two killers from where they stood, followed by Dreamer’s Incapacitated Scent, a vertical slash for decapitation.

Witnessing the excellent martial arts abilities between Gu Feidi and Su Yang, their opponents knew they couldn’t escape alone, so they immediately turned and united, wielding their curved swords into a battle formation. 

Having seen this battle formation several times already in the past few days from the scouts, the duo immediately noticed some differences used by the killers. In terms of lethality, it was clear that these fighters brought out their full potential. The formation had both offence and defence; for a moment, the two didn’t know where to start.

This place was not far from the Royal Court. Moreover, rising smoke from kitchen chimneys could be seen from a distance—not far away. There must be a village settlement of E’Luo Gui Faction.

Therefore, the longer the battle was dragged on, the more unfavourable it would be for the duo. However, their opponents would most likely be waiting for reinforcements.

In desperation, Su Yang and Gu Feidi had no other choice but to take the initiative to be on the offensive to quickly end this fight and make their escape. 

But the formation formed by the assassins was not so easy to break by force. During the fight, Gu Feidi was nicked by their enemies’ blades covered in poison. If it wasn't for Su Yang’s Half-Withered Crimson to disperse the toxin, Gu Feidi wouldn’t be moving right now.

Seizing the two’s mistakes, the killers shifted their defence into offence and changed their battle formation once more. They launched their own attack toward Su Yang and Gu Feidi, as the former was supporting the latter. 

Su Yang clicked his tongue and didn’t withdraw the Half-Withered Crimson’s intense cold power. Instead, he poured them into his meridians as he had done on the snowy mountain, and stored them into each of his sword dances. He clenched his teeth to resist the biting cold inside, changed to the Gliding Blossom Art and blocked the incoming attacks.

At the same time, Gu Feidi pushed the four attackers back using the Flying Kite Technique.

But even with their combined great force, one killer swiftly pulled back and fled, leaving the other three entangled with Su Yang and Gu Feidi respectively, as they forcibly separated them.

Seeing that they had no time to take care of the escaping assassin, anxiety emerged from within Su Yang and Gu Feidi.

Then out of nowhere, a feather arrow suddenly flew silently from within the forest and straight toward the fleeing enemy.

The feather arrow wasn’t fast. The assassin dodged it easily using light movement skill, but what followed next was a dagger to the chest by a man dressed in grey who suddenly appeared from behind a cedar tree, killing his target on the spot.

Su Yang and Gu Feidi quickly cleaned up the other three and turned toward the newcomer in grey who was walking towards them on the snow.

“The Heiyu Army’s Anying Division had received an assassination assignment.’

Luo Yin walked very steadily and slowly. Once he was in front of the two, he nodded slightly as a greeting, and continued, “However, the order they received was to kill Gu Feidi, and to capture Su Yang alive.”

Gu Feidi stepped forward to stand side by side with Su Yang. Both of them greeted Luo Yin back, followed by Gu Feidi asking, “How do you know about the orders they received?”

Luo Yin shared, “My uncle contacted my former comrades in arms inside the Heiyu Army. He secretly instigated two high-ranking leaders and several smaller teams.”

While talking, the person hiding in the dark and was the one who fired the stealth arrow earlier stepped out. He was a middle-aged man dressed in E’Luo Gui Faction’s combat outfit. The man didn’t move any closer, standing in the shadow of a cedar tree and staying alert toward his surroundings.

“Before you two arrived, two Evil Sect’s petal retainers were discovered and killed by the Heiyu Army. Thus, my uncle speculated...maybe there were others, so we also infiltrated the ice field.”

Luo Yin didn’t clearly say the objective of the speculation, but the duo knew that Luo Yu must have guessed the whereabouts of the Evil Sect’s Leader.

Luo Yin continued, “You two have been discovered by the E’Luo Gui Faction, so my uncle asked me to see if you two are willing to leak your goal on obtaining the faction’s White Flame Gu to the Royal Court as a diversion. To attract the Heiyu Army’s attention and create a better opportunity for that man to sneak in.”

Hearing this request, Su Yang and Gu Feidi glanced at each other. This was a very difficult decision to make.

There were still two days before the Lesser Cold. If they revealed their destination for this trip, they would certainly attract the attention of Baiwu Tower, and they would most likely be on alert and strengthen their defence, making it more difficult to obtain the White Flame Gu.

But on the other hand, the Heiyu Army had already noticed the general direction they were heading. If they continued to observe their tracking, they would quickly learn of their destination. If that was the case, there seemed to be no difference between leaking or not leaking their goal.

Gu Feidi pondered for a moment and asked, “If our purpose is known by the E’Luo Gui Faction’s Royal Court, will it be helpful for your next action?”

Luo Yin nodded and assumed, “If you are set on your goal, the Royal Court would most likely send more forces to defend the Baiwu Tower. At that time, one of the Heiyu Army teams on our side would be ordered to be stationed with the tower. Then I can sneak into the team during the battle at the Baiwu Tower and infiltrate the Royal Court and assassinate E’Luo Jue.”

The plan didn’t sound too bad, but it meant that Su Yang and Gu Feidi would be the centre of the target in the next two days, and there wouldn’t be any rest time for them. They would face assassination attempts one after another and even encounter some unprecedented obstacles during their journey. 

Gu Feidi didn’t answer right away.

He turned his head to Su Yang and waited for the other party to answer first. 

Su Yang lowered his head and stared at the snow-covered ground for a moment in thought. In the end, he closed his fingers into fists. 

“Alright.” He decided. “Our whereabouts have been exposed anyway. We have been fighting for the past two days. Why should we keep thinking about the problems if there are so many of them for us to solve?債多了不愁, this is also the title for this chapter. It means when there are too many debts, one stops worrying about them; too many difficulties to be anxious to overcome them. Or simply, since there are so many problems that we can’t solve, why keep thinking about them? We should just let them go. If they ask for a fight, then a fight we’ll give them.”