Pei Yuhang spent three days soaking in the Cold Earth Spring, purging his body. Only then did he manage to disperse about seventy to eighty percent of the Evil Yang Fire Qi within him.
However, he chose not to continue soaking to completely purge the Evil Yang Fire from his body.
Pei Yuhang understood that all things go to extremes and then reverse. If he left too little of the Evil Yang Fire Qi behind, the next time the evil fire flared up, its poison would be even more potent and overwhelming.
When that time came, he feared he wouldn't be able to withstand the ferocious Evil Yang Fire Qi, even with the aid of dual cultivation with a Fairy of similar or even higher cultivation.
Pei Yuhang knew this from bitter experience.
His Evil Yang Fire Qi had erupted violently once before. That time, Ye Liyuan, with her Peak Nascent Soul Cultivation, couldn't get out of bed for three days…
Besides, Pei Yuhang's current Dao Companion was far too frail; she was completely incapable of participating in dual cultivation.
Thinking of his Dao Companion, Pei Yuhang couldn't help but sigh again.
'Liyuan…'
BEEP—BEEP—!!
The urgent ringing of a Transmission Token snapped Pei Yuhang back to his senses.
He reached out, and the Transmission Token flew into his hand.
As he infused it with Spiritual Qi, the Transmission Token connected to the Divine Sense that had sent the message.
It was a respected Elder from the Xuanyuan Dao Sect.
"Palace Master Pei, envoys from the Yin Yang Sacred Land are coming to the Xuanyuan Dao Sect today to discuss important matters. The Sect Leader has ordered you to be the one to receive them."
'The Yin Yang Sacred Land? To discuss matters?'
For a moment, Pei Yuhang thought he had misheard. How could a prestigious sect like the Xuanyuan Dao Sect, a leader of the Righteous Dao, get mixed up with a den of vice and filth like the Yin Yang Sacred Land?
Shouldn't they draw their swords and slay any Witch from the Yin Yang Sacred Land on sight?
The person on the other end of the Transmission Token seemed to sense Pei Yuhang's reaction and explained:
"Palace Master Pei, everyone in the Dao Sect knows you are the Sword Immortal in our Sect who despises evil the most. Your Treasure Sword has slain countless Demon Cultivators."
"But the Yin Yang Sacred Land has now abandoned the darkness for the light and officially joined the ranks of the righteous. From now on, their disciples are no longer considered Demon Cultivators."
Pei Yuhang's jaw dropped, his eyes filled with disbelief, as the voice from the Transmission Token continued.
"The Sect Leader is sending you to greet them as a show of our Xuanyuan Dao Sect's sincerity toward the Yin Yang Sacred Land."
"For the past several thousand years, our Dao Sect and the Yin Yang Sacred Land have been at each other's throats. Many high-level Cultivators on both sides harbor deep-seated hatred."
"Now that our two Sects are making peace, if even Pei Sword Immortal, who is most known for despising evil, can set aside his hatred for the greater good, then other Cultivators will naturally follow suit and gradually let go of their grudges…"
"If our two Sects can form good relations and intermarry, after a hundred years, the hatred will naturally fade away."
The voice from the Transmission Token spoke earnestly, hoping Pei Yuhang would accept the assignment.
To that end, he even dangled a temptation that Pei Yuhang would find difficult to refuse.
"Palace Master Pei, I know your Cold Palace Sword Mansion has faced some difficulties recently. The Sect Leader has promised that if you take on this important task and successfully facilitate a smooth alliance between our two Sects, he will grant you a drop of the Fountain of Youth."
'The Fountain of Youth!!'
Pei Yuhang's eyes widened. This was a Supreme Heaven and Earth Treasure capable of bringing the dead back to life and growing flesh on bones, a treasure that could forcibly extend the life of a being nearing its end by a hundred years. If it appeared in the outside world, it would be enough to cause a bloodbath throughout the entire Cultivation Realm!
It could even tempt countless old monsters and Great Powers, whose lifespans were ending but who still clung to the mortal world, to come out and fight for it.
If Liyuan could drink this drop from the Fountain of Youth, her body, riddled with wounds from the Thunder Tribulation, could be saved!
Pei Yuhang's breathing grew ragged. Faced with such a monumental temptation, even with the fear he still held for the Yin Yang Sacred Land, and even with the inauspicious results of his recent divination, he found it impossible to refuse.
If he missed this chance, Ye Liyuan might truly be crippled for life, whiling away her remaining few decades before finally turning to dust!
Although Pei Yuhang had said that if that day ever came, he would grow old together with his beloved Dao Companion, if there was a chance to save her, he would charge forward with his sword, even if the Abyss Demon Realm itself stood in his way!
This was the way of a Sword Cultivator. Without the courage to press forward with sword in hand when faced with great opportunity, one could not cultivate the sword at all.
'Besides... it's not a given that I'll expose my identity to the Yin Yang Sacred Land.'
After his master rescued him back then, he had used Heaven-Reaching Divine Abilities to obscure the karma of Pei Yuhang's past.
All his past acquaintances would slowly forget his very existence. This forgetting was as subtle as a silent, nourishing rain; even a Great Power at or above the Divinity Transformation Stage might not realize it was happening.
Pei Yuhang recalled that in the ten years after he escaped the Yin Yang Sacred Land, its Saintess, Shang Miaoyan, had pursued him with the greatest ferocity throughout the Cultivation Realm. She had even offered an astronomical nine-figure Spirit Stone bounty, along with countless Supreme Heaven and Earth Treasures and spiritual pills and elixirs, to invite Great Powers from all corners to hunt him down.
His master had secretly intercepted those Great Powers, while the lower-level Cultivators who weren't stopped were simply unable to find the Xuanyuan Dao Sect.
After twenty years passed, Pei Yuhang noticed that the Yin Yang Sacred Land's efforts to hunt him down were weakening, and by the forty-year mark, they had ceased completely.
He knew his master's Divine Abilities were taking effect.
Now, a hundred years later, no one in the world remembered Pei Yuhang, the boy toy of the Yin Yang Sacred Land's Saintess. All that remained was the Cold Sun Sword Immortal, who vanquished demons and defended the Dao.
At this thought, Pei Yuhang relaxed slightly.
'Although the divination was inauspicious, nothing has happened for a hundred years. There's no reason my cover would be blown now.'
'The results of a divination aren't absolute. As long as I'm careful, I should be able to reverse the outcome foretold by the hexagrams.'
For that miraculous drop of the Fountain of Youth, Pei Yuhang was willing to endure the revulsion he felt and risk exposure to deal with those wicked women from the Yin Yang Sacred Land.
With that, Pei Yuhang gave his affirmative reply to the Transmission Token.
The Elder on the other side of the Token was delighted, stating that in three days, Pei Yuhang would lead a delegation from the Xuanyuan Dao Sect to welcome the envoys from the Yin Yang Sacred Land.
After cutting off the flow of Spiritual Qi, the Transmission Token, which had been floating in the air, fell limply.
Pei Yuhang gazed at the dim, lifeless Transmission Token and sighed helplessly.
HUMMM—
As if sensing the unease in its master's heart, the Treasure Sword by the spring's edge began to tremble. A chilling blue aura started to radiate from it, the cold qi swirling and coalescing into a human figure.
It was an exquisitely beautiful young woman with large eyes, but her lovely face remained as impassive as ice, betraying no hint of emotion.
She had waist-length black hair and was dressed in snow-white, silky robes, giving her the appearance of a noble princess from a Human Dynasty.
This was Bai Jingjing, the Sword Spirit of Pei Yuhang's Lifebound Spirit Sword, [Silence].
A "thoroughly wicked" snow mountain Fox Demon whose physical body he had once destroyed with a single sword strike, whose soul he had captured and refined into a Sword Spirit.