171 Eclipse Purloin

Xiao Qi looked at him. "Let's carry on!"

"Why don't I help you hit the acupuncture point for sleep. After you've slept, you'll feel much better," said Chu Li.

"No, no need to," Xiao Qi replied.

Chu Li could see how determined she was, so he stopped forcing her. It would be better to just stop talking her out of it.

The Imminent Skyline skill move was stretched to the limits. They were traveling at an electrifying speed and looked like a dash of shadow traversing the landscape, shuttling from one place to another. Within each blink, they would travel another two miles, and in between two blinks it would only take a few seconds.

The heart technique that Xiao Qi had cultivated was mystical, it made her body strong and able to withstand discomfort. Hence, she was fast to adapt to the swift movements Chu Li was bringing her at. However, she was still unable to make out her surroundings most of the time, as all she could see were flashes of objects and shadows as they traveled. In the end, she chose to close her eyes instead. The floodgates of memories opened, as flashbacks of her sister, Xiao Shi's sweet smiles floated into her mind.

From that day onwards, the two sisters would be separated forever, by heaven and earth. Even though Xiao Qi could still control her feelings by cultivating heart techniques, the overwhelming grief was still too much for her to contain. It towered on her like a huge wave.

Xiao Qi's Jade of Life had broken into two. After approximately a day's time, the two finally reached the Yi Public House. By the time they were stepping into the Wind Tower, their faces looked extremely pale.

At the main lounge on the ground floor, they could see Guo Mulin, Zhao Qingshan, and Linquan. All of them looked downcast.

Guo Mulin's face was especially grim, he gritted his teeth so hard that everyone could hear the sound.

He had been taking care of Xiao Shi all these years, painstakingly putting every effort he could to provide her with the greatest of care and love. The two's relationship was as close as that of her and Master Xiao's. Now that Xiao Shi had died, Guo Mulin put all the blame on himself. He despised himself for being incapable of protecting her.

Zhao Qingshan, on the other hand, was silently cultivating a Recuperation Heart Technique, but he too felt extremely sad at Lady Xiao Shi's demise. He felt that it was really a shame that she had died at such a young and tender age, there was still so much ahead for her.

Linquan's face looked extremely gloomy. From time to time, he would glance upstairs. He knew that the death of Lady Xiao Shi would be too much for Master Xiao to bear. If anything were to happen to Master Xiao, it would spell the end for the Yi Public House.

Chu Li and Xiao Qi appeared in front of the three men.

"Third Lady!" Linquan stared at her widely, and hurriedly went in front to give her a salute. "Lady Xiao, you're finally back. Quick, go upstairs and see Master Xiao."

"My sister, she… ?" Xiao Qi tried to keep her composure and asked.

Linquan hesitated for a second, then shook his head. "It's better that you go upstairs and see for yourself, my Lady."

Xiao Qi turned her glance back at Chu Li, who was behind her.

Chu Li said, "I shall go up and see what I can do!"

Guo Mulin sighed. "Young Chu, the Second Lady has passed. You won't be able to do anything for her up there."

"Not even the slightest of hope?" Chu Li frowned.

In his mind though, he could already see Lady Xiao Shi. She looked like she was in a sweet dream, but she showed no signs of life. Laying on the bed was only a beautiful but empty shell of her body.

Guo Mulin shook his head.

"I've heard that there is this kind of secret technique, called the 'Eclipse Purloin'. Have you heard of such a thing, Elder Guo?" Chu Li enquired.

Guo Mulin creased his eyebrow and asked, "Even you know of this?"

"I would like to give it a try!" Chu Li said.

Guo Mulin shook his head. "Trading one life for another. It will halve your own life vitality!"

"Why not," Chu Li replied casually. "My life is not worth as much as that of the Second Lady's!"

"Only the greatest Enlightened Masters could pull that off," said Guo Mulin.

Chu Li replied, "I know, but I would still like to try!"

Guo Mulin said, "You know the outcome of this. No matter if Lady Xiao Shi gets revived or not, you would still die!"

"Elder Guo cut the crap. Quick, tell me about it!" Chu Li said.

Xiao Qi gave them a puzzled look. "Eclipse Purloin? What's that?"

"Third Lady, it is a secret technique that allows the user to exchange their life for another's." Guo Mulin shook his head. "Only the Enlightened Masters are capable of performing it."

Xiao Qi glanced back at Chu Li, and said, "A dead person cannot come back to life. Chu Li, stop messing around!"

Chu Li replied, "What if the Second Lady was not destined to die yet?"

"You don't want to live anymore?" Xiao Qi scoffed.

Xiao Qi was grief-stricken by her sister's demise, but her mind was still rational. She did not want Chu Li to attempt such an outrageous act.

Chu Li laughed. "I'm tough, I won't die so easily."

In his mind palace, Chu Li kept records of this specific secret technique. It was not really a technique that traded one's life for another, as described by Guo Mulin. In fact, it was a technique of summoning a dead person's soul. The process would take about six days. Once he had gathered all the fragments of soul scattered around heaven and earth, Chu Li could regroup them back to Xiao Shi's body, and make her live again.

But that technique would be an act of defying the laws of nature. It would enrage the skies and trigger a heavy thunderstorm.

The fury of the thunder from above would be extremely ferocious. Even the best Enlightened Masters were not able to withstand its devastating power, hence the old saying that the technique was a direct trade of one life for another.

The reason Chu Li dared to perform the technique was because he had the Life and Death Scripture. He felt that he would not die so easily.

"Even a top-notch Enlightened Master would succumb to the wrath of the skies. What makes you think that you would survive?" Guo Mulin sneered at him, and continued, "I know you have a special kinship with Lady Xiao Shi, but she's already dead. Not even an Enlightened Master can bring her back. Just accept the reality!"

Chu Li creased his eyebrow and asked, "Elder Guo, are you sure you really know how to perform this secret technique?"

"... Sure, just wait and see!" Guo Mulin gave him a dead stare. He then turned around and exited the door.

Chu Li turned around and looked at Xiao Qi. "Lady Xiao, why don't you go up first?"

Xiao Qi shook her head, then slowly ascended the stairs to the third floor. In the room, she saw the heartbroken Xiao Tieying embracing Xiao Shi. He curled up beside her, crying silent tears, his body trembling with despair.

"Big Brother." She walked towards Xiao Tieying, then patted on his shoulder.

Xiao Tieying's head was buried in Xiao Shi's shoulder, he did not move when he was called by his sister.

Xiao Qi let out a sigh. She stood beside the bed and accompanied his grieving brother. The atmosphere of the room came to a standstill, and all she could hear were the choked-up cries of her brother.

Guo Mulin slowly made his way back to the first floor. He tossed a thin book across the room.

Chu Li reached out his hands and caught the book. He then lowered his head and flipped through it.

Guo Mulin shook his head.

He dared to give the book to Chu Li because he was confident that there was no way Chu Li could perform the technique. Guo Mulin had looked down on Chu Li. He knew that only the strongest Enlightened Masters would be able to perform it, and Chu Li did not fall under that category. Because of that, he did not even have to fear that Chu Li would be exposed to any sort of harm.

But little did he know, that Chu Li had a deep cultivation of austerities. Whatever an Enlightened Master could do, it was highly probable that he could do too. But still, there existed a wide gap between the boundaries of Innate Mastery and the boundaries of Enlightened Mastery. No matter how strong Chu Li was, he would not be able to pull it off.

After he finished reading it, Chu Li passed back the book to Guo Mulin and said, "Elder Guo, I would like to give it a go!"

"You really want to try?" Guo Mulin raised an eyebrow and asked.

Chu Li replied calmly, "Yes!"

"You're really out of your mind!" Guo Mulin shook his head and said, "Quit messing around, Master Xiao and the Third Lady are still grieving."

Chu Li shook his head.

Guo Mulin creased his eyebrow and looked at him. "Even if you succeed, you would lose your life in the process!"

"I understand," Chu Li replied.

"Right, you won't give up as long as you don't get to try!" Guo Mulin scoffed at him. "Let's go up then!"

Chu Li gave him a fist salute, then slowly climbed up the stairs to the third floor.

Linquan stomped on his feet, and nervously said, "Elder Guo, how could you stand watching that Chu Li wreak havoc?!"

"He was too engrossed in his feelings for the Second Lady. He won't stop until he gets to attempt the technique. Just let him go ahead and do it!" Guo Mulin shook his head and sighed.

"Sigh… If he keeps on messing around like that, Master Xiao would be pissed," Linquan said, "Now's not the right time to enrage Master Xiao, you don't know what he's capable of!"

Guo Mulin let out a scoff. "Chu Li's only intention was to save the Second Lady. Why would Master Xiao be angry?!"

Chu Li stepped onto the third floor.

Xiao Tieying and Xiao Qi were so overwhelmed with sorrow that they did not realize his presence.

Chu Li did not want to disturb them, so he sat down with his legs crossed. He started picturing a Buddha statue in his mind.

At first, his imagination was blurred, there was only a vague outline of the statue's figure. It seemed like there was an unknown force obstructing him from picturing the statue. The scene felt similar to the time when he was picturing the Life and Death Scripture a long while back.

Chu Li kept calm and remained patient. He slowly forced his way through the obstructing force. It felt like he was looking at the statue from afar, and with every step, he was moving closer towards it. His view of the statue slowly became clearer. Sure enough, finally, he had broken free of everything in his way, and could now make out every detail of the statue. It was presented almost vividly in his mind.

The statue's facial features were now clear. He saw that it was standing in mid-air. The statue was performing a series of hand gestures, just like a summoning technique. But Chu Li did not manage to remember the whole sequence of hand gestures. All that he remembered was the statue's extremely fierce expression.

Chu Li put his hands together and imitated the statue's hands gestures. He started mumbling a string of weird incantations. "Mo ------ Mi ------ Ba ------ Lo ------ Mo ------ !"

He started the first syllable with a low tone. Then, with each subsequent syllable, his tone gradually lowered. Until the very last syllable of the incantation, there was no sound at all, as if he did not even say it out.

Suddenly, it felt like an invisible wave of force was awakened from the vast nothingness surrounding him. The force started swarming onto him from all four directions.

All the windows in the house were shut tightly, but out of the blue, a huge gust started brewing. In the blink of an eye, the gentle gust turned into a violent storm. The curtains and everyone's clothes started swaying at the force of the wind.

The grieving duo turned around and glanced at Chu Li, wondering what was happening.

Chu Li imitated the same fierce expression on the statue's face, then performing the final step of the sequence of hand gestures. Immediately after, he pointed a finger straight at Xiao Shi, and shouted, "Charge!"

The gust of storm all around Chu Li obeyed his order, as they gushed rapidly towards the direction of Xiao Shi.

The storm now transformed into a small tornado, it cast Xiao Tieying and Xiao Qi about three steps backward from the bed. Xiao Shi was now in the eye of the tornado. All around her, the winds gushed violently, However, Xiao Shi appeared untouched, and her clothes did not sway at all. She was slowly lifted to about a meter high in the air. Then she stopped mid-air, and she laid there quietly.

Xiao Tieying stared widely with his reddish, teary eyes. He was astonished by the scene before him.

Xiao Qi too looked confused. But she could make an educated guess, that Chu Li was performing that secret technique he had mentioned earlier. It looked like he was going to succeed.

Chu Li swapped his hand gestures with a great deal of difficulty. Then, he shouted, "Return!"

A wormhole appeared about an inch above Xiao Shi's head. Within a second, it sucked in all the wind, devouring the tornado entirely. After that, the whirlpool shrunk into three bright spots, which then seeped into Xiao Shi's head.

Xiao Shi landed on the bed with a loud thud.

Xiao Tieying did not have time to react, and he furiously slapped himself on the cheek. He dashed across the room to have a look at Xiao Shi.

Xiao Qi followed her brother. She looked curiously at Xiao Shi.

Chu Li was still sat on the floor nearby, cross-legged. But his face was pale, as the energy all around him started surging into his body, helping him recover the strength that had been drained from his body.

Xiao Shi's face became flourished. It was entirely different from the greenish, lifeless face she had moments ago.

Under Xiao Tieying and Xiao Qi's stares, Xiao Shi's eyelashes moved slightly. She then slowly opened her eyes. She gazed at her two siblings blankly.

"Sister!"

The two were beaming with joy. They edged closer to her and grabbed her hand in theirs.

"Big Brother, Third Sister…" Xiao Shi's vision slowly became clearer. She looked very confused upon seeing the delighted expressions on her siblings' faces.

Just then, the sky started rumbling. Suddenly, the sky turned ominously dark, looming with grotesque rainclouds.

Chu Li opened his eyes. "Lady Xiao, take Lady Xiao Shi and leave!"

Xiao Qi turned back to look at him. "Chu Li, you…"

Chu Li ushered her. "Quick, you guys go first!"

Xiao Tieying threw a glance at Chu Li, then at Xiao Qi. "Third Sister?"

Xiao Qi asked, "You've performed the Eclipse Purloin technique, haven't you?"

Chu Li nodded in response, then smiled widely at Xiao Shi. "Second Lady, congratulations."

Xiao Shi smiled back at him. "I was brought back from the dead?"

Her sweet smile was captivating. It felt like the dimly lit house had been suddenly illuminated brightly by that smile. The beauty was beyond description.

When darkness gradually crept into her dreams, Xiao Shi felt like she was being devoured by darkness. It felt as though she was plunged into a bottomless pit. At that moment, Xiao Shi knew, that she would never wake up to see another sunrise again. She genuinely thought that she would be trapped forever in an eternal slumber.

But she did not know how long it had lasted. Suddenly, a beam of light shattered through the darkness, guiding her forward, and finally leading her to a giant door. Then, in a snap, she woke up.

The loud thunder continued to crackle. It sounded louder this time as if the thunderstorm was inching closer to them with every passing minute.

Chu Li said, "Second Lady, you guys should leave this place now."

"Chu Li, you've saved me again?" Xiao Shi asked.

Chu Li smiled. He looked skywards and urged them once more. "Hurry up! Lady Xiao, Lady Xiao Shi, Master Xiao, leave now before it's too late!"

Xiao Qi tightened her lips and looked at Chu Li.

"Boom…" the thunder sounded closer than before. Now, it felt like as though it was directly above them, as the whole of Wind Tower started shaking.

Chu Li's expressions turned worse. He rushed them. "Lady Xiao!"

"Right!" Xiao Qi snapped out of her gaze at Chu Li. She took a deep breath. "Brother, let's go!"

Xiao Tieying frowned. "What is going on?"

"I'll explain later!" Xiao Qi cut him short, then carried Xiao Shi in her arms and made her way towards the door. When she was about to step out of the room, she managed to steal another glance back at Chu Li. "Don't die, please!"

Chu Li smiled.