Ambush on the Return Journey

As the Celestial Sword Sect delegation got ready to leave Danxia Sect, dawn illuminated the sky in amber and lavender tones. While Mo Yu said official goodbyes to Sect Leader Fang, Zhen Lu assisted in obtaining their supplies. Nearby, Hao Lu and Nangong Shuang spoke quietly, sometimes looking towards Zhen.

 Yun Yao came to Zhen pretending to offer travel herbs. On your way back, be watchful. Last night, my uncle messaged via strange routes. 'Securing the vessel' somehow relates to this.

 Zhen nodded almost unnoticeably. Thanks for everything.

 "This isn't farewell," she said, pushing a tiny jade token into his hand. In case of crises. It will speak to my pendant.

 Starting off uneventfully, the troop moved steadily across the twisting mountain passes dividing the two sect regions. By mid-afternoon of the second day, they entered the infamous Shadow Pine Forest—a region noted for its erratic electrical currents and sporadic bandit activity.

 Mo Yu said, "We'll keep close formation here." Seniors on perimeter spots, junior disciples in the center.

 Zhen felt a disturbance—several energy signatures converging on their location, moving with deliberate stealth—when they had traveled just an hour into the thick woodland. He signaled quietly to Mo Yu.

 Having seen the same danger, she nodded. Defensive formation, everyone," she said, her voice calm yet forceful.

 The assault arrived moments later. Emerging from the forest line, eight people in unremarkable dark attire moved with military efficiency. Gleaming with a purple-black energy unlike any typical growing technique, their weapons—curved short swords with strange serrations.

 Save the juniors! Engaging two assailants at once, Mo Yu yelled, her sword now tracing spectacular arcs of blue light.

 Zhen confronted a foe whose mask could not conceal his eyes—eyes that enlarged a little in apparent recognition upon recognizing him. Strange was the attacker's combat style; sharp, angular strikes meant to disturb energy pathways rather than the flowing motions of conventional sword sects.

 "The ship goes back to its correct owner," the masked figure said, lunging forward with surprising speed.

 Zhen blocked the blow, but the odd energy covering his foe's blade partially breached his defensive barrier, causing agonizing vibrations in his meridians. This was someone educated expressly to oppose farmers, not typical bandit.

 Zhen discovered himself more compelled to show methods outside what a junior disciple should know as the fight became more fierce. He automatically reacted with a five-point counterattack pattern—an advanced technique from his former life when three assailants coordinated their attack on him.

 Though it didn't go undetected, the maneuver saved him. Mo Yu's eyes momentarily widened in astonishment before she went back to her own fight.

 Amid the turmoil, Nangong Shuang shouted, "Disciple Zhen, behind you!"

 Zhen whirled, anticipating another assailant, and found Nangong's own sword arcing toward him—a stroke disguised as a warning. Zhen, with hardly a thought, avoided both the alleged warning and a real assault from another source by executing a flawless Shifting Cloud Step—a technique much beyond his claimed cultivation level.

 Nangong said with close eyes, "Interesting reflexes for a junior disciple."

 Mo Yu's catastrophic sword move that dispersed the last assailants finished the fight. One, perhaps their commander, hesitated before fleeing into the woods.

 Vessel, we shall meet again, he shouted to Zhen with an unsettling echo. Your essence calls for its actual lord.

 Mo Yu planned a defensive retreat to a more safe location after making sure no students were gravely hurt. She called Zhen to join her at a little area away from the others once they set up camp and assigned guards.

 "Walk with me," she urged, her voice unyielding.

 She spun to face him squarely when they were out of earshot of the camp. Junior disciples are not taught the methods you applied. The Shifting Cloud Step by itself calls for decade-long honing of inner energy channels.

 Zhen weighed his alternatives judiciously. Total honesty would put both of them in danger; ongoing lying would undermine the confidence he had developed with her.

 You are correct, he finally acknowledged. I have been... adding to my training.

 She narrowed her eyes. Who with?

 A reclusive old master living on the western frontiers. I stumbled into him by chance while on a herb-gathering trip.

 Mo Yu murmured, startling Zhen with her awareness, "The Old Sword Demon." Few are aware that he still lives.

 You know about him?

 Rumors have reached me. Her eyes became a little softer. But why the confidentiality? Advanced training is not prohibited.

 Zhen said, presenting a partial truth, "His techniques are not... conventional." Before I knew what I was studying, I was concerned about attracting undesired attention.

 Mo Yu looked at him closely. Those assailants went after you especially. Why?

 Zhen answered truthfully, "I don't know." "But I think it has something to do with the energy signature the ancient master assisted me in creating."

 For a long time, she remained mute. At last, "I want to trust you, Zhen," she said. But I can't save someone whose secrets could compromise our religion.

 I would never put Celestial Sword Sect in jeopardy, he stated with sincerity. Everything I do is to safeguard it.

 "From what?"

 Zhen thought about it before deciding carefully. Ancient foes coming back are among forces working against the religion. The ancient master has felt them.

 Her face showed worry as much as doubt. These are significant allegations.

 That is why I have been hesitant to distribute them lacking evidence, he said.

 A far alarm sound from the camp cut into their talk. Rushing back, Zhen sensed a familiar energy signature graze his awareness—a communication method he had taught Li Chen ages ago.

 "Master," said the elderly cultivator's mental voice, feeble yet distinct. Energy fluctuations close to the sect's borders correspond to Ye Qingqing's signature. Unknown cultivators have also been patrolling the perimeter. The foe advances more quickly than expected.

 Zhen kept a meditation posture that night, absorbing the day's events as the camp drifted into restless slumber. The assailants had referred to him as "vessel," the same word Yun Yao had said her uncle used. Whatever scheme was developing obviously included his reincarnated body and the Soul Vessel's essence fragments.

 Mo Yu sat next to him quietly. Our journey to the sect starts tomorrow, she remarked. Zhen Lu, whatever secrets you are hiding, I wish they don't place you on the wrong side of Celestial Sword Sect's goals.

 Her remarks were both cautionary and sympathetic. Zhen understood their connection had significantly changed from the straightforward hierarchy of senior and junior disciples to something more complicated and unknown.

 He answered gently, "Some secrets guard those who lack knowledge of them."

 She looked up at the stars. Some eat those who maintain them.

 Zhen felt the burden of his choices pushing on him as he went back to his station. The time for hiding in plain sight was over. Soon, he would require allies who knew at least parts of the truth; Mo Yu, with her unrelenting honesty and great abilities, could be the most crucial partner of all.

 But first, he had to know what ritual his foes were planning and why his resurrected body was crucial for their Ye Qingqing return plans.