Mo Ziru gripped his sword as over twenty red-clad crossbowmen surrounding the courtyard unleashed volleys of flaming bolts, setting the compound ablaze. Having driven everyone into the secret tunnel, the archers now turned their crossbows toward Mo Ziru. Before him stood Tang Wujun and Song Xiaoyu—neither his match in single combat, yet both deeply familiar with his techniques and formidable in their own right. Clearly recruited by unknown forces to oppose him, their presence was deliberate.
But the hidden reinforcements lurking beyond the courtyard posed an even greater threat.
Yet Mo Ziru could not retreat.
Behind him were three hundred youths, along with Liu Yan and Yu Tuan'er.
These were the hope for curing the Nine Hearts Pill's poison.
Behind him was also Shui Duopo.
Shui Duopo must not kill.
Clutching his last sword, "Long Robe," he took a slow, deep breath. For decades, he had roamed the martial world as he pleased, unrestrained and unrepentant.
No regrets.
Song Xiaoyu flicked his sleeves, revealing his weapons—a pair of short rods. With a mechanical click, steel antler-like spikes sprouted from them, designed specifically to trap blades. These retractable spikes formed an exotic weapon known as "Slaughter of Broken Lives."
Tang Wujun sneered, "Let's see how long your 'Long Robe' can protect the mad Shui Qiqi today! Heh... Sword Emperor Shui Qiqi, Sword Empress Wen Shanhe—back then, after Shui Qiqi was poisoned by the Wang family's 'Queen Bee Congealed Frost' from the 'Summoning Lantern Order,' he nearly devoured his own wife Wen Shanhe alive. Rumor had it he shattered his own skull and died, yet who knew you'd saved him! This man killed my sworn brother—a feud that spans life and death!"
Mo Ziru remained silent. The fact that Sword Emperor Shui Qiqi still lived, now disguised as the Moonlit Golden Physician Shui Duopo, was a closely guarded secret. Apart from Xue Xianzi, almost no one knew. After over twenty years, few in the martial world even remembered the names "Sword Emperor Shui Qiqi" and "Sword Empress Wen Shanhe." There could be no other explanation! Twisting "Long Robe Sword," his face darkened with fury as he suddenly roared, "What have you done to Zhong Lingyan?"
"Xue Xianzi" Zhong Lingyan—decades later, the world only knew him as a lecherous old miser, unaware that in his youth, he had been a dashing, renowned gentleman who charmed flowers and willows. Back then, at the Misty Lake poetry gathering, a single glance or smile from Young Master Zhong became legendary.
Song Xiaoyu grinned viciously, "Thirty years ago, I said Zhong Lingyan would eventually fall because of women! Captured by his own daughter, tortured, and force-fed 'Three Slumbers Sleepless Sky' before death, he confessed everything!" His four-holed nose twitched. "The thick medicinal stench here amid the flames proves the Nine Hearts Pill's antidote is indeed here. Let me kill you and Shui Qiqi first, then capture Liu Yan to claim unparalleled merit!"
Mo Ziru's sword hummed as he pointed it at Song Xiaoyu. "How did Zhong Lingyan die?"Song Xiaoyu smirked faintly, "Didn't you save Shui Qiqi after she shattered her heavenly spirit? Zhong Lingyan also shattered his heavenly spirit, but he wasn't as fortunate—no one came to save him." He raised his twin forks, blocking Mo Ziru's incoming sword, and sneered, "Zhong Lingyan lingered for three days after shattering his spirit. His own daughter didn't want him dead—she wept herself half to death, exhausting every effort to save him... Had you come then, perhaps you could have saved him." He blew lightly on his grotesque steel forks and sighed, "How pitiful. Zhong Lingyan was so arrogant in his youth. I doubt he ever dreamed that when death came, he'd struggle for three days just to die."
Mo Ziru's smile vanished entirely. He closed his eyes briefly. "How cruel you are."
"Pray your own death isn't worse than Zhong Lingyan's," Song Xiaoyu said coolly.
With a faint whistle, swordlight like moonlight sliced through the air—its momentum fierce and overwhelming, enveloping both Song Xiaoyu and Tang Wujun.
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