Chapter 92: Attraction

“Ha! So you do know what this is!”

Red Cloud caught the faint shift in the other woman’s expression after hearing his words, and he threw back his head and laughed.

“I came here for this very thing. Since you recognize it, even if you do not understand its use, you must know at least a little of it.”

Seeing that the other party would not answer, Red Cloud paid it no mind and went on speaking as though to himself.

“In this Vase Realm, this thing exists in more than one place. This time I came asking for it and failed to obtain it; the next time I return, things will not be so simple.”

Luan Clearleaf had originally only kept herself tense, saying little. But upon hearing the implication in those words, her expression changed subtly.

“Are you threatening me, old woman?”

She lifted her head, and the aura around her凝聚ed, heavy with a威严 that needed no anger to command respect.

“How many years has it been? I can no longer remember how many years it has been since anyone dared come into my clan and run wild.”

With a cold snort, she sent a phantom of a luan and phoenix flying out from her phoenix-headed cane, straight toward Red Cloud.

“Since you have said such things, then first let this old woman test just how deep your strength runs!”

At most, this strike was only at the early stage of the Butterfly Transcendence realm. Perhaps even before he had gathered his calamity qi, he could have taken it head-on.

Red Cloud narrowed his eyes, having no intention of using his own calamity-qi techniques directly. With a slight shift of mind, his Cloud-Soaring Wings spread wide and wrapped him completely.

When the luan-phoenix slammed into the wings, flames erupted in a roaring blaze. Red Cloud responded by coating the wings with his Transient Feather Blade, extinguishing the fire one strand at a time.

When the flames finally died away, he was completely unharmed.

The crone showed no change of expression. With a lift of her hand, she tossed the phoenix-headed cane high into the air, formed a hand seal, and in an instant it split into eight, fixed in all directions.

As the cane rose higher and higher, it transformed into eight towering pillars. Phoenix cries echoed out, and the luan-phoenix forms carved upon the pillars seemed to come alive.

They shrieked skyward, their wings beating lightly, and countless fiery feathers whistled down like a storm.

This was far more powerful than before. But this move, I can do as well.

Sensing the aura above, Red Cloud’s mind tightened. His Cloud-Soaring Wings flicked gently behind him, and countless iron feathers howled through the air as they fell.

The iron feathers formed by the Transient Feather Blade were themselves a Butterfly Transcendence-grade weapon. Their materials were extraordinary, and they had been forged night and day by his own hand. How could mere flames hope to melt them?

In an instant the iron feathers pierced through the fire and struck the flame-pillars formed from the phoenix-headed cane with a crisp ringing sound, dense as rain.

Wind fed the fire, and with a sweeping surge the Cloud-Soaring Wings inverted the flames within, turning them back upon themselves.

The crone’s heart sank slightly. She removed the hairpin from her hair without a word and coughed up a mouthful of her blood essence.

Sensing that the aura now rising from her was different from before, Red Cloud frowned.

He reached out and patted the Soul-Devouring Saber Sheath at his side, and the iron feathers that had flown out earlier whirred back at once, streaming into the sheath.

Seeing that the other side was already preparing this technique, and being no man to suffer a loss, he set his hand upon the saber hilt.

As his calamity qi began to condense, the aura around him changed in an instant.

Because he had taken the calamity-qi kidney he had obtained earlier and grafted it onto himself, the flavor of calamity qi about him had already taken on a somewhat strange, rippling quality.

If one had to describe it in a single word, it would be...

slick.

He did not hurry to draw his blade, but instead began to gather momentum bit by bit.

Out of courtesy, he still offered one final warning, after all, it was he who had come to their door.

“If I draw this blade, what follows will no longer be the same as before.”

Luan Clearleaf was unmoved by those words.

The object in her hand was a rare demon emperor artifact. With it, she would even dare to contend with someone at the late stage of Butterfly Transcendence, so naturally she was not swayed by Red Cloud’s threat.

“I rather would like to—”

Just as Red Cloud was preparing to strike after hearing that reply, a young man in the manner of a scholar smiled as he walked over.

He held a feather fan in his hand and gently pressed down the hairpin in Luan Clearleaf’s grip, smiling as he said,

“No, Third Sister. You do not.”

When he had finished speaking, the old woman stared at him for a long moment. With a trace of stubborn pride, she set the hairpin back into her hair. The eight luan-phoenix pillars merged once more into one, returning to the phoenix-headed cane in her hand.

She turned her back on him.

“Since you are here, I shall leave it to you. After all, I cannot beat him.”

Watching the old woman hobble away, the newcomer finally withdrew his gaze, a look of rueful emotion on his face.

“In the end, she still refuses to call me Second Brother.”

Once Luan Clearleaf was gone from sight, he gave the feather fan in his hand a light wave, and in the blink of an eye the world seemed to change.

Seeing that Red Cloud remained as composed as ever, he did not bring up what had just happened again, but instead grew solemn and said,

“I am Luan Clearmount of the Luanbird clan. Greetings.”

“An itinerant cultivator, Cloud Wanderer.”

Red Cloud did not mind the trouble of it. He gave a slight nod in reply, but his hand never once left its place.

Luan Clearmount could naturally see the caution in Red Cloud’s heart. Smiling, he did not press the matter, but went straight to the point.

“Judging from the strength you have displayed, you are surely no ordinary Butterfly Transcendence realm cultivator. What is strange is that my clan has never heard any news of you. That is indeed unexpected.

“But that is not something for us to probe deeply into now. What I want to know more is how you learned...

...that the object exists within my clan.”

“So I did come to the right place. The thing I want is not only here, but you also know of it.”

Red Cloud did not answer him directly.

Seeing that the other man’s expression did not change, he was silent for a long while before speaking at last.

“Secrets attract one another. So do things like this, do they not?”

“You also know of other places where this object is kept?”

At that, Luan Clearmount, scholar that he was, showed an unnatural pause in the motion of his feather fan.

“Since you know this thing exists, then you should also know it will not be handed over lightly. I imagine you failed to find it elsewhere, and only then thought to turn your attention to my clan, yes?”

Even as he spoke, he was observing Red Cloud’s condition.

Seeing that the other remained silent, his tone gained a touch more pride.

“Did you not investigate before coming here? Among my Luanbird clan, six demon emperors once appeared, and with them came six imperial artifacts. Even during the Demon-Purging Age, no human force dared set its sights on my clan... Just how did you dare?”

“Finished?”

Red Cloud listened to him without lifting his head. The saber hilt was already half-drawn, and his voice was cold beyond measure.

“What you said does make a certain amount of sense. But I came here only to ask whether you will hand it over, or not.”

“For I have already obtained one of them. With this power, I wonder whether you can take even a single strike from my blade.”