The sword tip suddenly stopped. Miao Shui threw Miao Feng aside, turned around with lightning speed, bent down, pulled Xue Ziye up, and fiercely questioned her, her face almost crazed: "What? What did you just say? What did you call him!"
"Ya Mi." Xue Ziye asked blankly, "His real name—don't you know it?"
Miao Shui froze for a moment.
Taking advantage of Miao Shui's momentary daze, she subtly twitched her fingertips and quietly pulled out the golden needles used to seal Miao Feng's acupoints.
“Ya...Ya Mi?!” Myo-sui stared at her colleague of many years on the ground, an expression of disbelief on her face. “Myo-fu—could it be that you are...you are…”
The question was cut short before it was finished. From Miao Feng's tattered clothes, a short flute was revealed—it was a bili, a musical instrument commonly used by people from the Western Regions, carved from ox horn and decorated with silver carvings, the bright yellow tassels on it now faded.
Miao Shui gripped the Bloodstained Sword, her hands gradually trembling.
She bent down and picked up the reed pipe, stroking it repeatedly, tears welling up in her eyes. She turned her head and stared at Miaofeng, only to find that the blue-haired man was also looking at her—in that instant, she vaguely saw the little person she loved so dearly who had trembled in her arms many years ago.
"Whoosh!" Suddenly, the Bloodstained Sword was pointed at his heart again!
"You...you're lying to me, aren't you?" A sharp, ruthless expression flashed across Miao Shui's face, as if she had instantly suppressed the turmoil in her heart. She sneered, "You're not Ya Mi at all! Ya Mi died when he was five! He...he didn't even dare to hold a knife, how could he become the Pope's trusted assassin?!"
She retorted sharply, but seemed not to want to hear his answer at all, and was only trying to convince herself.
Miao Feng gazed at her with his usual calm eyes, as if trying to etch the image of a loved one reunited after decades into his heart.
“Yes.” He suddenly smiled slightly. “Yami did die a long time ago. I was lying to you.”
Miao Shui let out a sigh of relief, her lips pressed tightly together. As if having made a firm decision, she swung her sword down without the slightest hesitation. Yes, she only needed an excuse—now that things had come to this, if she wanted to achieve great things, no matter who this person was, he could not be allowed to live!
"Ya Mi!" Xue Ziye exclaimed again, her face pale. "Hide!"
Why didn't he dodge? She had already used all her strength to undo the pressure point seal on his acupuncture points. Why didn't he dodge!
Miao Feng simply closed her eyes calmly, neither flinching nor avoiding the attack.
Now that things have come to this, why bother recognizing each other again?
They were no longer the inseparable siblings they once were. Time cruelly separated them, molding them into vastly different people: more than twenty years later, he became the Pope's talisman, devoid of emotion and thought; while she had become the Pope's lover, ruthless in her pursuit of revenge and power.
They were like oil and water.
Even if she were to believe it, at this point, she would never let herself off the hook. How could she let everything she had worked so hard for over the years slip away because of a moment of weakness? So, it's better not to believe it... that way, it's better for both of them.
He closed his eyes.
Instead of slicing into his neck as expected, he heard Xue Ziye scream in alarm from behind.
"What's wrong? Has Miaoshui changed her mind and is actually going to attack Xue Ziye?!"
"Valley Master Xue!" He was startled, his hand slamming into the ground. Before he even opened his eyes, he leaped forward, pulling Xue Ziye away from her original spot and landing her in a blind spot in the main hall, shielding her with his back. However, Xue Ziye stared straight behind Miao Shui, letting out a terrified cry: "Be careful! Be careful—"
Miao Feng was startled and turned around in a flash, then gasped in surprise as well.
The King of the Church?!
The cult leader who had been pierced through the chest by a sword had stood up silently and had somehow appeared behind Miao Shui!
Covered in blood, even his eyes were crimson, as if he had returned from hell. He silently rose, his hand contorted in a ferocious grin as he reached out, gripping a heavy golden staff, and swung it towards the rebel's back—Miao Feng recognized it; it was the Heavenly Demon Body Splitting Technique, a forbidden art within the sect. Though severely wounded, the Pope still wanted to use his last breath to drag the rebel down to hell with him!
However, Miao Shui was completely focused on dealing with Miao Feng and was completely unaware of what was happening.
"Watch out!" Without thinking twice, he rushed over.
Miao Shui was startled and just as she turned around, the golden staff struck her head with the force of thunder!
She cried out in alarm, raising her Bloodstained Sword and leaping upwards in an attempt to block the devastating blow. But in that instant, she was horrified to discover the Pope's true strength. The moment they made contact, an immense force surged forth, and with a clang, the sword was flung from her grasp! She felt half her body go numb from the impact, and though she tried to step back, the howling wind forced her to remain rooted to the spot.
Unarmed, she could only watch helplessly as the golden staff hurtled down, about to shatter her skull.
"Sister Wang, watch out!" A low shout suddenly reached her ears, and she was pulled away from the area affected by the force. Miao Feng arrived at the last moment, pulling Miao Shui away with one hand, turning to the side to protect her, and the blow immediately landed on his back!
With a "crack," a clear sound of bones breaking was heard. Miao Feng staggered and spat out a mouthful of blood.
However, at the same time, the demonic look in the eyes of the King of the Sect dimmed as he was countered by the protective true energy of the wind. After using all his strength in one strike, he finally ran out of energy and collapsed on the jade steps.
"Ya Mi!" Xue Ziye exclaimed in shock, staggering toward him with a heart pounding in her chest.
Miao Shui was also among those who called out this name at the same time.
Miao Feng's blood splattered on her clothes, and the Loulan woman trembled uncontrollably. Looking at her colleague who had shielded the King of Pop from his fatal blow with his own flesh and blood, she could no longer hide the shock in her eyes—yes, that was Ya Mi! That really was Ya Mi, her only brother! Only a single relative would make such a move without hesitation at the critical moment of life and death, willing to exchange his own life for hers.
"Ya Mi! Ya Mi!" She threw herself to the ground, held his head in her arms, and called out his childhood name.
He laughed, opening his mouth as if to answer her. But blood kept gushing from his throat, drowning out his voice. Miao Feng gazed at her long-lost older sister, unable to utter a word, her eyes gradually losing focus.
In that instant, tears streamed down Miaoshui's face like rain, and she could no longer control herself as she held the unconscious person and wept bitterly.
That was her Yami, her younger brother whom she had lost and found again... He was so much braver than when he was five years old, but she refused to acknowledge him because of her own selfish desires, and instead wanted to kill him with her sword!
"Let me see him! Quick!" Xue Ziye struggled to crawl over and propped herself up.
Her hands were weak and trembling violently. It took her several attempts to open the jade bottle and pour out the remaining five Vermilion Fruit Jade Dew Pills. Without thinking, she fed all the pills to Miaofeng and then fed him the Chitian Pill that could cure the cold poison.
She wanted to use gold needles to seal his acupoints, but her hands trembled so violently that she couldn't even hold the needles.
"Ha...ha..." The old man, his face covered in blood, laughed, staggered back onto the jade throne, and, panting, looked at the three people slumped on the ground. "Hello! For over twenty years, I've raised and taught you like that, and in the end, one by one...you all want me dead, don't you?"
The old man, with a sage-like demeanor, was covered in blood, but his eyes shone like a demon. Suddenly, he burst into maniacal laughter.
That was a lonely and desperate laugh—his life was ruthless and tumultuous, from an assassin in a battlefield to a ruler of the Western Regions who fought against the Central Plains martial arts world. What glory and honor that was!