He shadowed her for half an hour like this, until they had long since left the city, dozens of li behind them. Just as Tang Yan was about to give up, the figure ahead suddenly steadied and stopped.

"You've been skulking after me through the whole city. Did you think I never noticed?" The woman's voice came cold and cutting.

Tang Yan's heart lurched. Just what cultivation did this woman have? He'd taken such pains to hide himself, and she'd still caught him?

He shook his head with a few bitter laughs and stepped into the open.

"Heh heh heh... Miss Zi truly has frightening strength. I concealed myself so deeply, and still you found me." The words had barely left his mouth when a gray blur came howling in, sweeping into his vision.

Another person? And just as unfathomable.

Tang Yan's shock deepened. Yun City was such a small place. What had gotten into it lately, that two experts should appear at once? From the auras the pair carried, they were Earth Rank at the very least.

The gray-robed man was thin as a bamboo pole, his features not unpleasant, save for those eyes-every so often they flickered with a lecherous gleam. One look told you his heart wasn't straight.

"Oh? There's another one?" The gray-robed middle-aged man started in surprise once Tang Yan emerged. He looked Tang Yan over a few times, then burst out laughing. "I kept wondering how Miss Zi Yun dared show herself after taking my Fire Evil Poison. So she brought a helper. But this little lover of yours is silver on the outside and pewter within-won't last a single blow."

The white-clad woman studied Tang Yan with the same surprise. When had this fellow trailed her? How had she not sensed him?

Tang Yan took in both their expressions and nearly coughed up blood. So neither of them had noticed him at all? He'd only been dragged out here by sheer dumb luck?

"Ha ha ha, I'm only passing through. Carry on, carry on!" Tang Yan waved his hands hurriedly and turned to go.

"Leaving? Heh heh, how could I let you? Word has it Miss Zi Yun is kindhearted and won't watch a man die without lifting a hand. With you here, she'll have to split her attention to shield you. And now that she's poisoned, her strength is a match for mine at best. Keep you around, and my odds only improve." The gray-robed man chuckled strangely, hiding none of his scheming.

"Bai Qing, you think too much. A stranger trails me all the way here-he's plainly cut from the same cloth as you. If you want him dead, then kill him! But you won't be walking away today. I, Zi Yun, will spend this life of mine to see you dead!" the white-clad woman snapped.

"Hmph. Then this old man will give it a try. Little brat-your life!" Bai Qing gave a weird laugh and lunged, hand outstretched for Tang Yan.

Tang Yan paled in alarm. This rat could tread on empty air! That was the mark of a Heaven Rank expert!

He had little faith he could dodge, but Tang Yan still threw himself backward as fast as he could.

"Vile thief, you dare!" The long sword in Zi Yun's hand trembled, and she too rose, walking the empty air.

Tang Yan could have chewed through his own guts in regret. What madness had made him follow these two? Either of these living gods could snuff him out with the twitch of a finger.

Clang!

At the last hair's breadth, Zi Yun's sword met the strike and barred it from Tang Yan. He let out a long breath-and when his hand brushed his back, his robes were soaked clean through with sweat.

"Heh heh, so the boy really is your lover. You can scarcely save yourself, yet you shield him like this!" Bai Qing's mind was poison to the core, and his mouth never stopped picking at Zi Yun. "If you want the Fire Evil Poison drawn out, you'll need a round of Perfection with a man. Why not yield to this old man like a good girl? Once I've killed your pretty-boy, you and I can share the clouds and rain together."

"Shameless! I'll kill you even if it costs me my life!" Next to Bai Qing, Zi Yun's skin was far thinner.

While the two traded blows, Tang Yan watched closely from the side. The gray-robed man wielded a soft sword, and in his hands it became a silver serpent-lithe, vicious, striking at Zi Yun from impossible angles.

By rights Zi Yun was the stronger of the two, but Bai Qing's filth never let up, and he kept feinting toward Tang Yan to break her focus. Already wounded, already divided, Zi Yun found herself in danger after danger within a handful of exchanges.

"Damn it, I never crossed you, and now you want me dead!" Boundless fury rose in Tang Yan's chest. "If I don't show my claws, you think I'm easy to bully! Fine, since you've got no shame, this old man will teach you something-don't you dare look down on anybody!"

Tang Yan retreated fast, opening distance from the two. His eyes locked on the flow of Bai Qing's blade, and he began taking the man's techniques apart, move by move.

His mouth never rested. He bellowed at the top of his lungs:

"You, the one called Bai Qing-look at that face of yours, long as a shoehorn. When your daddy was at your mother, he must've pressed too hard and squeezed your face crooked! Then again, do you even know who your daddy was? Your old lady had so many big men piled on her, I doubt she could tell which one stuck! You motherless wretch, you dare look at me? What are you staring at? I'm not your father..."

The volley of curses came like a machine gun, and Bai Qing was so enraged smoke seemed to pour from his seven orifices.

"Brat, watch me cut you down!" Forcing Zi Yun back with everything he had, Bai Qing roared and made to charge Tang Yan.

Tang Yan had never taken his eyes off the man. The instant Bai Qing moved, his gaze sharpened, and he murmured, "Miss Zi-thrust three fen to the left, straight stab, seven-tenths force!"

And that exact spot was a blind angle Bai Qing could not possibly guard.

Battlefield command-begin. A cruel little smile touched the corner of Tang Yan's mouth.

Hearing him, Zi Yun's eyes flicked left on instinct. Sure enough, a flaw waited there-small, but glaringly clear. Delight surged in her, and her sword shot out like rolling thunder, screaming toward the gap.

When masters cross blades, a miss by a hair leads to an error of a thousand miles.

Bai Qing, who had been pressing the advantage step by step, felt that single thrust become a true threat to his life. He could spare no more thought for Tang Yan-he wrenched around to block, his offense collapsing into defense.

"Right side, nine cun-sword across, hack his lower third rib! Seven-tenths force!" Tang Yan's voice rang out again.

The words had barely fallen when Zi Yun caught the marked spot.

An opening. Another opening!

And because she'd held something back the last time, this strike linked into the previous one with shocking ease.

Sword Qi arced like a rainbow splitting the sky. With a sharp tearing of air, plain and unadorned, it came chopping straight for Bai Qing's waist.

Now it was Bai Qing who nearly spat blood. He'd counted on the boy to become his own helping hand, a deadweight dragging Zi Yun down. He'd never dreamed that in a few breaths the whole battle would flip.

Once I've beaten Zi Yun, I'll flay you alive an inch at a time! Bai Qing seethed inwardly.

Tang Yan didn't know what Bai Qing was thinking, but his own mind ran much the same course-kill the bastard.

Bai Qing had no leisure to dwell on it. Zi Yun's sword was simply too keen; he had no time to evade and could only take it head-on.

Every time Zi Yun spent seven-tenths of her force, Bai Qing had to answer with all of his, and the whole exchange left him hopelessly on the back foot.

Before he could draw a breath, Tang Yan's life-reaping voice cut in once more: "Spin your body-full force! Use the momentum of the turn, right nine cun, sword across, the upper second rib!"

Twice now Tang Yan had named the weak point dead-on, and Zi Yun had begun to believe him.

In midair her body turned like a wheel, whipping around in a single swift revolution. Borrowing the inertia of the spin, her sword gathered a vast and surging momentum and came roaring down toward Bai Qing.