Chapter 133 — Section 134: Gu Wu

Mu Lei opened his eyes, and a glint of sharpness flashed through his slightly drunken gaze.

Propping himself up on one arm, he said nothing, but took out another wineskin and tipped his head back to drink deeply. Gu Xue sat upright, cradling her wineskin gently in both hands, as though she had not heard the hurried, disordered footsteps.

A peal of wild laughter shattered the silence.

"Hahahaha! My dear cousin Xue, you've finally come back. I've been waiting most anxiously—if some mishap had befallen you on the road, I should have regretted it all my life!"

A man of massive, powerful build burst in, surrounded by a crowd of retainers. This was Gu Wu. Hooked nose, narrow slit eyes, thin sharp lips, and brown eyes identical to Gu Xue's—he fixed them upon her with greedy, burning intensity.

It was not the first time he had seen Gu Xue, and yet this Gu Xue, with a flush of red upon her face, still made his breathing grow unconsciously rough and heavy—she was truly beautiful beyond words!

"Gu Wu, I ran into Qi Ya on the road. Was he sent by you?" Gu Xue suddenly spoke.

At the two words Qi Ya, Gu Wu's pupils contracted. He gave a start, and the greed vanished from his eyes in an instant. "Qi Ya? Qi Ya, the Nightfall Swordsman! You encountered him?"

Gu Wu could not help showing suspicion. He swept his gaze around several times, found no one else, and his misgivings only deepened. With Mu Lei's strength, there was absolutely no chance of preserving Gu Xue's life against Qi Ya's blade.

Could someone have come to their aid?

Countless thoughts turned through his mind, yet his face betrayed nothing. "Cousin Xue, you wrong me. How could I ever raise a hand against you? I've been waiting for Cousin Xue to bear me a son."

"I thought as much," Gu Xue said calmly. "Others may not know of the Snow Rainbow bloodline in my body, but how could Cousin Wu not know? What a pity it is a recessive bloodline—otherwise, who would dare behave so outrageously in my house? Isn't that so, Cousin Wu?"

The Snow Rainbow bloodline!

A chorus of startled cries rose from the guards around Gu Wu. The Snow Rainbow bloodline—the most powerful bloodline in the history of the Gu family. Once awakened, it would form beautiful snow rainbows around the bearer's body. In the Gu family, there was no one who did not know of the Snow Rainbow bloodline, for the family's mightiest martial art, the Rainbow Blade, could only be cultivated by one who had awakened it.

Two hundred years had passed since the Gu family last produced a young one bearing the Snow Rainbow bloodline. The family's hunger for it was beyond any outsider's comprehension. Every child born to them was examined by every means possible for the Snow Rainbow bloodline. Yet there was one kind that could not be detected—the recessive bloodline.

A recessive bloodline would only gradually manifest itself after the age of sixteen. It could not be awakened, but if its bearer produced offspring, there was a great chance those children would possess the Snow Rainbow bloodline.

Gu Wu's expression changed. He had not expected Gu Xue to reveal this secret herself. The Gu family was not made up of his branch alone; he was certain that by tonight, this news would have spread through every branch of the clan.

No matter what, tonight he had to seize Gu Xue and bring her back, to make the rice cooked and the meal done—then no one would be able to do a thing about it.

Gu Wu laughed heartily. "On a snowy night like this, how can I let Cousin Xue freeze out here? You had best come back with me."

Gu Xue shook her head. "Many thanks for Cousin Wu's kindness, but tonight I stay here. I don't wish to go anywhere."

Gu Wu said with a smiling face, "Da Wei, escort the young lady back to the mansion."

A burly man with a cold expression abruptly charged at Gu Xue.

Boom!

A fist suddenly appeared before Da Wei's eyes. His pupils contracted; he touched his toe to the ground and forcibly halted his momentum. Mu Lei rose to his feet and stood towering and imposing, and those drunken eyes now radiated a piercing chill.

"The young lady does not wish to leave. Who dares lay a hand on her?"

Da Wei gave a cold snort. "Courting death!"

At some unknown moment, two daggers had appeared in his hands. The blades gleamed a deep blue—one glance told that they were steeped in deadly poison. With a flicker of his form, he vanished into the air.

Mu Lei's eyes suddenly flew wide with fury, and his tongue cracked like a thunderclap: "Courting death!"

Azure flames came roaring up from within his body, and Mu Lei amid the fire seemed a god of war. His right hand clenched into a fist, and the azure flames gathered into it at astonishing speed—yet he abruptly drove his elbow backward!

Bang!

Fire sprayed, and a figure tumbled through the air.

Da Wei gave the dagger in his hand a light flick, scattering the azure flames from the blade, his expression incomparably grave.

"Mu Lei of the Sky Azure—truly worthy of his name. I have heard that all who bear the Sky Azure bloodline are loyal and valiant. Mu Lei, if you are willing to follow me, I shall regard you as my right arm!" Gu Wu said in a low voice, his gaze upon Mu Lei burning fiercely.

"You?" Mu Lei cast him a glance of contempt and spat two words from his nostrils: "You qualify?"

Gu Wu's face darkened. "Since you refuse to see reason, you leave me no choice but to be ruthless. Da Wei, no need to leave any alive."

Da Wei said nothing. Wisps of mist seeped from his body, gathering without dispersing.

Mu Lei's pupils contracted. "Mist Shadow!"

The Mist Shadow bloodline—a silver bloodline, able to transform the body into mist, and exceedingly troublesome to deal with. Yet Mu Lei felt not the slightest fear, for his own Sky Azure bloodline was likewise a silver bloodline.

Mu Lei's hair bristled with rage, azure flames streaming and crackling.

With one great stride, he twisted his waist and drove a punch. The azure flames gathered into his fist at astonishing speed, wisp after wisp of fire whirling around his knuckles at incredible velocity.

Heaven-Spinning Fire Fist!

Da Wei's form shifted with ghostly grace, trailing a haze of mist, drifting and elusive.

Mu Lei fought slow against fast, his force heavy as a thousand jun, while Da Wei moved with strange and elusive swiftness, quick as lightning.

An azure shadow and a grey shadow coiled and intertwined, and from time to time a deafening impact rang out. Wherever Da Wei flashed, the mist followed, and the mist in the arena grew ever denser, until Mu Lei too began to feel the strain.

These mists—

Like invisible spiderwebs, they bound him tight.

Mu Lei drew a deep breath, changed the method of his fists, and suddenly let fly a punch—a vortex of azure fire tore loose from his hand!

He bent his head and threw punch after punch, and in the blink of an eye had unleashed twelve fire vortices. The twelve fire vortices spun around Mu Lei's body, forming a ring of azure flame, and wherever the vortices passed, the mist was burned away clean.

Da Wei's form abruptly accelerated, and the mist around them thickened at once, dense grey fog pressing in upon Mu Lei at the center from every direction.

The swift fire vortices immediately slowed.

"Haha! Cousin Xue, it seems I must come invite you myself!" Gu Wu gave a long laugh, spread his form like a great bird, and pounced at Gu Xue.

"How dare you, rat!" Mu Lei's eyes flew wide with fury, and he abruptly drove both fists at Gu Wu in the air.

Two streaks of azure fist-light came howling through the air.

"Overreaching yourself!" Gu Wu sneered.

A layer of silver light suddenly rose upon his palms, gleaming bright. He did not dodge, but met the two azure fist-lights and gave them a light pat.

Pfft!

The fist-lights burst like two bubbles, pierced with ease.