A Man in the Snow: Starting with a Sword Challenge to the Northern Liang Prince's Palace

Three days later.

Ye Yun left the city again.

Because he always felt that this matter was not so simple, and that shadow from last night was still there.

He walked out of the city gate alone, heading south along the path in the wasteland. A simple longsword hung at his waist, and his blue robe fluttered slightly in the morning breeze. He looked like an ordinary wandering cultivator embarking on a long journey.

As the sun rose higher, the fog dissipated. The wasteland revealed its true face under the sunlight: grayish-white saline-alkali land, scattered bones, dried-up riverbeds, and a few clumps of withered yellow grass shivering in the wind.

Ye Yun walked across a rocky beach, crossed a dry riverbed, and entered a narrow canyon.

He stopped when he reached the middle of the canyon.

"Come out, you've been waiting for me for a long time."

His voice wasn't loud; it echoed through the canyon a few times before gradually fading away.

silence.

Ye Yun didn't turn around; he just stood there with his hands behind his back.

"You've been following me for three days, aren't you tired?"

Suddenly, there was movement on the mountain walls on both sides of the canyon.

Three dark figures emerged silently from the crevice in the rock, like three withered leaves falling from a tree. The leader was a woman in black, tall and with a cold and beautiful face, with two short knives hanging at her waist.

She landed three zhang in front of Ye Yun, while the other two dark figures landed on the mountain walls on either side, blocking his retreat.

Ye Yun looked at the woman in black and recognized her, not by her face, but by her aura.

That night, the blurry, indistinct black figure peeking out from outside the tavern was her.

It seems this person is the real spy; the woman he captured that day was just a shadow.

"Ye Yun, what a brilliant scheme! You outmaneuvered me once, but luckily I'm smart enough to succeed."

Ye Yun's lips curled up slightly.

"Hahaha, you schemed against me? Why didn't he dare come to the Sword Qi Great Wall himself, and instead sent you to your death?"

The woman in black's face darkened. She placed her right hand on the hilt of her knife, the blade already drawn an inch from its sheath. The cold light reflected on her face, revealing the murderous intent in her eyes.

"It's your good fortune that the God of War thinks highly of you, so don't be ungrateful."

Ye Yun didn't speak, he just looked at her.

The woman in black had clearly reached her limit. She suddenly drew her knife with her right hand, the blade flashing like a bolt of lightning, aiming straight for Ye Yun's throat.

This strike was swift and ruthless, carrying the full power of a cultivator at the Immortal Realm. Wherever the blade passed, the air was torn apart, emitting a sharp whistling sound.

The blade was still three feet away from Ye Yun's throat.

At that very moment, Ye Yun suddenly had a sword in his hand, a crimson longsword, which blocked the deadly strike.

I knew Ye Yun was very strong, but I didn't expect him to be at the half-step Ascension Realm.

The woman in black's pupils contracted sharply. She reacted extremely quickly, almost instinctively turning around and rushing towards the other end of the canyon.

Their figures moved like lightning, and in the blink of an eye they were already ten zhang away. At the same time, the two dark figures on the mountain walls on both sides also moved, one to the left and one to the right, breaking through in two different directions.

But Ye Yun was faster than her.

The "cage" unfolded silently, and the invisible sword intent transformed into a cage, trapping the woman in black inside.

The woman in black abruptly stopped, as if she had crashed into an invisible wall. She gritted her teeth and swung her knife, the blade slicing cracks into the cage walls, but the cracks vanished in an instant, and the cage remained unmoved.

"You can't hold me!" she roared, unleashing her full cultivation power. The power of the Immortal Realm surged like a flood bursting its banks, crashing against every inch of the cage's walls.

The cracks began to spread, becoming more numerous and denser.

"Try this sword of mine again."

The sword light flashed, not dazzling or sharp, but it carried an irresistible power, like a law. The sword light fell without sound or vibration, only an absolute and inviolable suppression.

The woman in black's dagger flew out of her hand, and her body was crushed as if by a mountain, collapsing to the ground, unable to move.

She struggled for a few moments, only to find that she couldn't move even a single finger.

"I never imagined that you could control the power of rules that even cultivators at the fourteenth realm cannot control. The God of War was right, you are indeed troublesome."

As the woman finished speaking, the scales on her chest suddenly shattered.

A gentle force appeared, and a Confucian scholar of about forty years old slowly walked out.

Is this meticulous?

Ye Yun said coldly, "You are Zhou Mi."

Zhou Mi smiled slightly, suddenly understanding why he was staring at a mere Immortal Realm sword cultivator.

"Indeed, you were aware of my existence."

Zhou Mi said calmly and composedly.

Those eyes seemed to see right through Ye Yun.

"What was your purpose in deliberately luring me out of the city?"

Ye Yun asked.

Zhou Mi looked at him, a complex emotion flashing in his eyes.

"Your swordsmanship is unique, and it holds the potential to break the rules of this world. But I don't want you to achieve that. You don't need to exist in this world. Is that reason enough?"

Ye Yun finally understood. After years of meticulous planning, he had no way out. He wanted to push others onto that path, and then reap the rewards when they reached the end, ultimately gaining control of the entire Heavenly Court.

To scheme against the entire world.

He is the only variable.

This means he has been targeted by major figures.

No wonder even the eldest sword immortal, Chen Qing, personally met with him.

Ye Yun's fingers slowly tightened.

"So you want to kill me."

"Ye Yun, you're lucky. Someone gave you something to protect your life. This was just a meeting, but it turned out exactly as I expected."

Zhou Mi stared at Ye Yun with completely emotionless eyes.

Ye Yun knew what it was.

One is Old Man Yang's token.

One was a token given to me by Chen Qingdu.

Both of them knew how important Ye Yun was.

Ye Yun's heart skipped a beat: "Why don't you let the great demon of the wilderness take action and let me die unexpectedly on the battlefield? Wouldn't that be better?"

"Hahaha, how could a sword cultivator who can easily kill a peak Immortal Realm demon be killed so easily? There aren't that many Ascension Realm demons in this desolate world who would go to the Sword Qi Great Wall to seek death for no reason."

His meticulous words seemed to reveal everything.

Ye Yun remained silent for a moment, then understood what the other party was wary of.

Without sufficient benefits, the savage demon race would not mobilize on a large scale.

Moreover, it was a powerful demon at the Ascension Realm who made the move.

That represents absolute power.

"Ye Yun, your swordsmanship can ultimately solve a problem that even the Dao Ancestor couldn't solve. Why don't we cooperate and jointly control several worlds? I can give you anything you want."

Zhou Mi's voice carried a seductive undertone.

Ye Yun didn't want any of those rights; he only wanted to revive Nangong Pushe.

"Hahaha, are you trying to be like a tiger, using its skin as a shield?"

Ye Yun had essentially rejected Zhou Mi.

"Ye Yun, I'll give you some time to think. If your answer is wrong when we meet next time, you won't have another chance."

Zhou Mi revealed a confident smile.

With a single wave of his hand, he and the woman in black vanished from the spot.

Ye Yun watched Zhou Mi disappear, recalling his earlier words.

His swordsmanship can solve the problem of the extraterrestrial demons.

When the time is right, I will go and meet Xiu Hu and Dao Zu.