True Solution of the Sword Dao

"Dai Li, can you wait here for me a moment? I’ll go get us some drinks," the man said tenderly, pinching the woman’s cheek affectionately and touching her forehead with his.

"Mmm, go ahead," Dai Li whispered softly.

Then, she stood still, watching the man quickly walk towards the convenience store not far away.

She smiled, her heart brimming with an undissolvable sweetness.

Suddenly, she heard a snap from behind. A black flip phone rolled to her feet from behind her.

Dai Li quickly squatted down to pick up the phone and turned around.

Behind her, there was no one. In the distance, though, she saw a few children laughing and chasing pigeons.

Dai Li frowned slightly and turned back around.

Yet, she discovered a young man approaching from the side.

"Thank you for picking up my phone," the man said with a smile, approaching her.

"Is this yours?" Dai Li extended the phone towards him.

"Yes. I accidentally dropped it, and it rolled quite a distance," the man said with a gentle expression, accepting the phone and thanking her repeatedly.

"Oh, by the way, you’re Dai Li, right? I just heard your boyfriend call you that," the man suddenly said.

"What about it?" Dai Li was taken aback for a moment.

"But how come I remember you as ’Crimson Wing’?" the man said softly.

Dai Li’s pupils constricted. Suddenly, everything before her eyes blurred. She couldn’t help but blink, and the man in front of her disappeared without a trace, as if he had never been there.

Dai Li felt a chill rise in her heart. She turned around to look at her surroundings.

There was no sign of the man at all.

"Dai Li? What’s wrong?" her boyfriend came back with two cans of peanut milk.

"Nothing... nothing..." Dai Li bowed her head and forced a slight smile.

"Do you feel unwell? Shall we go back and rest a bit?" her boyfriend asked considerately.

"Alright." Dai Li let her boyfriend take her hand.

They quickly left the square.

Behind them,

Lin Fei was smiling as he watched their retreating figures, his eyes flashing with an inexplicable luster.

******************

Two days later...

Dai Li’s initially tense nerves gradually relaxed. No one, no powerful beings had come looking for trouble, and it seemed like what happened that day had been an illusion.

"Maybe it was just a strong being who knows me, passing by..." she consoled herself.

Then life returned once again to the joyful happiness with her boyfriend.

It just so happened that today she was shopping with a close friend she had made in Hua Nation and her boyfriend. She let her guard down and stopped thinking too much. After all, even that ’thing’ didn’t give her a warning.

The three of them each held a skewer of barbecue, leisurely strolling and eating as they went.

After a day of shopping, it was now late afternoon.

The sky gradually darkened. Some street vendors had started setting up night market food stands, with warm yellow lights lit up early. The air was filled with the fragrant scent of barbecue.

"Sister Dai Li, you’ve never mentioned your family’s situation. Aren’t your parents worried about you being away for so long?" the Hua Nation girl Yao Qin asked casually, her mouth greasy from the skewers.

Dai Li, arm in arm with her boyfriend, said,

"Not really, I call them every once in a while. Hua Nation is too much fun, I haven’t been here long enough to think about going back yet." Her Mandarin was very fluent.

After speaking, she looked up at her boyfriend with a blissful expression.

She had met this boy named Lin Yang during a trip to Hua Nation to clear her mind.

She didn’t know how she had fallen for him; it all seemed like a classic plot from a romantic novel. When she was about to be robbed and was about to fight back, Lin Yang stepped in to help and drove off the petty thieves.

So they got to know each other naturally, both feeling a certain fondness, and later found out they were both traveling to ease their minds. They simply decided to travel together.

As time passed, their rhythm became more in sync, and their feelings deepened.

It wasn’t until Dai Li returned to her country that she learned her brothers and sisters had all been traded by her father for the friendship of another powerful being. Heartbroken, shocked, fearful, and uneasy, all these emotions mixed together, and she chose to flee.

And before she fled, she took a Demon Artifact that once belonged to her mother, to hide and protect herself.

Now, she was back beside her boyfriend Lin Yang once more.

Lin Yang seemed to notice that Dai Li was troubled, but he didn’t ask anything. He just held her tight.

"Oh, there’s a restaurant over there with particularly tasty potstickers. I’ll go and buy some," said their friend Yao Qin, finishing her food quickly and speaking loudly. "Why don’t you come too, Lin Yang? I can’t carry all that by myself." Yao Qin wiped her mouth.

Lin Yang was about to refuse.

But Dai Li in his arms gently pushed him.

"Go on, Yang," she said softly with her head down. "I really like potstickers, could you bring back extra for me?" She lifted her face and showed a pleasing smile.

Lin Yang frowned slightly.

"Alright, would you like to come with us?"

"No need, I’m a bit tired. I’ll just rest here a bit. Thanks," Dai Li spoke softly.

"Okay." Lin Yang looked at her worriedly for a moment. He suddenly had a premonition, a bad premonition. But since Dai Li had said so, he had no choice but to let go of his girlfriend’s waist.

Dai Li watched as Lin Yang and Yao Qin walked into a row of stalls until she could only glimpse their figures faintly.

"It’s time to go, young lady," an indifferent voice suddenly spoke from behind her.

Dai Li stiffened, slowly turning around.

On the street in front of her, two tall, thin silhouettes stood silently before her.

"Allen... it’s you..." Dai Li said with a complex expression. "You should know that just the two of you can’t keep me here," she said calmly.

One of the men nodded.

"Of course, with a Demon Artifact in hand, not even the Golden Bat would be a match for you, Miss. So naturally, we wouldn’t just come like this."

"So..."

"So, there are still us..." another voice interrupted him.

A blond man appeared behind Dai Li with a smile. Behind him stood a tall man with blood-red eyes and a golden cross in them, casting a faint golden glow.

"B-grade..." Dai Li’s face stiffened, and she slowly turned around.

She then realized she had been completely surrounded without knowing when it had happened.

Passersby continued to walk through them as if they were phantoms, passing right through the group.

Apart from Dai Li, no one could see them if they didn’t want to be seen.

"Dai Li!!" Suddenly, from a distance, Lin Yang’s face turned pale as he rushed over, his potstickers scattering on the ground. He had somehow realized what was happening here.

Yao Qin was doing the same.

They both watched from a distance and quickly ran over.

Dai Li was surrounded by a group of people. One of the blond men turned his head slightly and looked this way, a mysterious smile on his face.

"I’ll go with you..." Dai Li lowered her head and said with difficulty.

"A wise choice," came the reply.

"As long as you don’t hurt them," Dai Li said hoarsely.

"Of course," the blond man said with a smile.

The group surrounded Dai Li and turned around.

Hiss...

A ring of pale blue light slowly rose around them, and space began to twist slightly, a clear sign they were about to teleport.

Lin Yang and Yao Qin desperately tried to reach them but it seemed they could never make it, as the gap of just a dozen meters remained unchanged.

The blue glow grew stronger.

"Dai Li!!" Lin Yang’s eyes were filled with bloodshot veins, his skin flushed red, obviously from blood rushing to an extreme degree.

Suddenly, everything froze.

"It seems you still haven’t given up," a frivolous male voice echoed from around them.

Everyone’s footsteps halted.

The cross in the eyes of the Nicholas Family’s strongman grew even brighter.

"Who’s there? Show yourself!"

Amidst a light chuckle,

a brown-haired man in a white suit, nowhere to be seen before, landed with a thud in front of them all. He had his hands in his pockets, strolling as if he was just taking a casual walk, looking relaxed and at ease.

An oppressive gust of wind swept through as the man made his appearance, shaking everyone’s clothes violently.

"Dai Li, long time no see..." he flashed a charming smile at Dai Li.

Whoosh!

With a faint sound, the man in white vanished instantly.

Surrounded Dai Li’s eyes suddenly lit up with a red glow, and in the blink of an eye, she produced a red bead in her hand. She smashed it hard onto the ground.

With a crack, she disappeared on the spot. When she reappeared, she was already beside Lin Yang and Yao Qin.

"Go!!" A voice came from the void.

A blue electric net harshly closed in on the few who had reacted, but was instantly broken by the Nicholas Family strongman’s touch.

But in that moment, the three people in front of him disappeared.

Boom!!!

All of a sudden, an immense pressure descended.

The surroundings became instantly quiet, all the streams of people vanished, leaving only empty stalls, cars, and shops.

Everything remained as it was, but there were no people to be seen.

The hissing started up again.

Dai Li and the Lin Yang reappeared in the same spot as before.

The three were completely astonished.

Silently, the man in the white suit also staggered to their side, looking extremely unwell.

The air solidified like amber, everyone feeling an extreme tightness in their chests. An intense pressure bore down on them, making it almost impossible to breathe.

"Crimson Wing... what is it that could make you give up everything to be with an ordinary person?"

A plain voice suddenly rang in everyone’s ears.

Boom!

A flash of lightning crossed the sky.

Lin Yang looked up only to be stunned by the sight of the sky, now covered with dense dark clouds. Countless black clouds formed a massive vortex, spinning continuously.

Clear footsteps echoed, growing louder from a distance.

From the shadows far away,

a lean figure slowly emerged.

He held an ordinary white longsword in his hand and walked step by step closer.

"The First Councillor!"

The people from Dark Night Castle, along with the blond Royce and the Nicholas Family strongman, all bowed their heads reverently.

Bang!!

Another terrifyingly huge pressure fell in an instant.

The air seemed to twist.

Thump!

Everyone knelt down involuntarily. Only Lin Fei remained standing.

"Tell me, what is it?" Lin Fei gazed at Dai Li, his eyes clearly reflecting her frightened face. (To be continued. If you enjoy this work, please come to Qidian (qidian.com) to vote for recommendation tickets, Monthly Ticket; your support is my greatest motivation.)