In Tang Lici's room.
With a loud "bang," Tang Lici and Xifang Tao exchanged a palm strike, each forced back a step. Tang Lici's palm technique was fierce and relentless—after the first strike, the second followed immediately, relying solely on sheer, overwhelming force with no regard for technique or form. Xifang Tao blocked the first strike, her chest roiling with surging qi and blood, her heart slightly chilled. The Great Art of Power Transfer was indeed one of the world's most extraordinary martial arts. Tang Lici's palm strength was no less than that of an Elixir Cultivator with sixty years of cultivation. What a pity such talent could not be used for her own purposes.
The thought flashed through her mind as the second and third strikes came straight for her chest. Her sleeves flared as ambition surged within her. She flipped her palms and met the attack with increased force. Seeing her counter, Tang Lici intensified his left palm strike. Another explosive clash erupted—the incense burner in the room toppled, curtains billowed wildly, and the surrounding cabinets, tables, and chairs trembled violently, cracking with fine fissures.
After the third strike, Tang Lici's face was suddenly inches from hers. With a "pfft," he forcefully spat a mist of blood. Xifang Tao jerked her head aside—this face had cost her much effort, and she couldn’t let Tang Lici ruin it with a mouthful of blood. In that split second of evasion, Tang Lici dashed through the door and fled.
Faint traces of blood mist still drifted in the air as Xifang Tao stood at the doorway, watching Tang Lici's retreating figure. Her brows arched high, a mix of triumph and fury swirling in her heart. She was pleased that in this exchange, Tang Lici had exerted his full strength, and she had come out slightly superior. Yet she was furious that even in defeat, he had still managed to wound her with his blood before escaping—making his retreat a victory in itself.
She, too, had struck with her full power. Though Tang Lici was injured, the extent of his wounds—whether light or severe—remained uncertain. Her eyes flickered before she abruptly turned, sleeves flaring, and rushed toward the battlefield at Sword Inquiry Pavilion .
Outside Sword Inquiry Pavilion , the mournful war drums thundered without cease. The members of the Central Plains Sword Association were tightly encircled by Blazing Cloud Stronghold , blades and sword lights flashing amidst relentless battle cries. Though they struggled to defend themselves, they exchanged uneasy glances, unwilling to strike lethally.
Yu Furen blocked the furious Xuan Yuanlong while anxiously scanning the battlefield for Chi Yun. Clad in bloodstained white robes, Chi Yun darted through the crowd like a phantom—wherever he passed, blood sprayed three feet high! Yin Dongchuan drew his blade to intercept him, but how could Three Blades to Reave the Soul possibly stop Chi Yun’s silver blade and lightning-fast movements? Barely managing to parry, Yin Dongchuan found himself in mortal peril at every turn.
"Master Xuan Yuan, order your men to stand down, or the Central Plains Sword Association will no longer hold back!" Yu Furen shouted, channeling his qi. "There are many misunderstandings here—please cease hostilities and let me explain in full. The situation is not as you believe. We have no intention of harming Chi Yun—"
Xuan Yuanlong sneered coldly. "He has already been reduced to this state, and you dare claim no harm was intended? Do you take Blazing Cloud Stronghold for fools? Unless we burn the Central Plains Sword Association to ashes, we cannot atone for the suffering our chief has endured—nor quench the hatred in our brothers' hearts!""Ah—" The screams were unending. Yu Furen, desperate to save lives, shouted angrily, "If you don't stop now, the innocent brothers of Blazing Cloud Stronghold will all die! Chi Yun is poisoned and out of his mind—stop this and help restrain him!" Xuan Yuanlong replied coldly, "I'll deal with you first!" Yu Furen, furious and exasperated, snapped, "You stubborn, senseless fool—"
As the two roared and clashed, Yin Dongchuan suddenly let out a long, agonized scream. Xuan Yuanlong whirled around just in time to see Chi Yun’s bloodied hand pulling out from Yin Dongchuan’s chest—he had punched straight through his heart! Yu Furen stood frozen in shock, while Xuan Yuanlong’s face turned deathly pale. In an instant, the members of Blazing Cloud Stronghold and the disciples of the Central Plains Sword Association fell into a deathly silence. Everyone stared at Chi Yun, dumbstruck, unable to believe the horror unfolding before them.
"Chief…" Yin Dongchuan had hesitated to strike Chi Yun with his blade, and in that moment of hesitation, Chi Yun had seized the chance to pierce his chest. Yin Dongchuan gaped, blood gushing from his wound and splattering across Chi Yun’s face. Chi Yun grinned savagely at him, as if delighted by his suffering. Yin Dongchuan’s face drained of color, his expression caught between laughter and tears. "Chief…" he whispered, before collapsing, lifeless. His eyes remained wide open, two trails of tears suddenly streaming down—unable to close them in death.
"Old Yin…" Xuan Yuanlong trembled violently, barely able to grip his sword. Yu Furen clenched Azure Jade tightly, his heart heavy with bitterness. Chi Yun, Chi Yun… your life of heroism and righteousness—has it all come to this? Heaven above! Whose fault is this? Whose fault?
"Stop!" A calm voice cut through the silence.
Chi Yun jerked his head up and shoved Yin Dongchuan’s body aside with a thud. He didn’t even glance at it, his gaze fixed instead on the latecomer—a silver-haired man in gray robes, standing just beyond the pile of corpses.
Tang Lici! Yu Furen’s heart surged with desperate relief—he had finally arrived. But then sorrow followed. He was too late. The irreversible had already happened.
At the command to stop, Chi Yun threw his head back and let out a maddened laugh. A thick, sickly-sweet scent filled the air, making everyone recoil. Yu Furen covered his nose, his expression darkening. "Gu Spider Poison!" The toxin had lain dormant in Chi Yun’s body, buried so deep—and now it was erupting. If everyone here was infected, would they all turn on each other in madness?
Xuan Yuanlong paled in horror. "How could this happen?"
Yu Furen replied flatly, "The poison in Chi Yun had been suppressed. If he hadn’t been provoked… perhaps… perhaps things wouldn’t have turned out like this." He forced his tone to remain detached.
Xuan Yuanlong swayed, the world spinning around him. Had Blazing Cloud Stronghold doomed Chi Yun? His own fierce loyalty—had it driven Chi Yun to madness, left Jin Qiufu gravely wounded, and led to Yin Dongchuan’s gruesome death? Overcome with guilt, he raised his sword to his own throat—but Yu Furen seized his wrist. "Stay calm! Don’t provoke him further. Chi Yun… Chi Yun might still be saved."
Xuan Yuanlong let out a bitter laugh, unable to speak. Saved? How? He felt himself on the verge of madness alongside Chi Yun.The mountain wind swept by, dispersing the strong, foul odor emanating from Chi Yun. His disheveled hair fluttered wildly as his fierce, leopard-like eyes glared viciously at Tang Lici, whose robes floated gently in the breeze, his expression calm.
"You—" Chi Yun raised his blood-stained silver blade straight up, its gleaming tip pointed directly at Tang Lici. "You—"
Tang Lici turned slightly, his sleeves tucked behind him, while Chi Yun's blade remained unwavering in his right hand. "You—"
No one knew what Chi Yun intended to say—what that "you" was meant to convey. Yu Furen only saw Chi Yun's sleeves billowing more violently, his blade gradually leaving his grip, floating inch by inch, fraction by fraction, like a fragile white butterfly in a gale, drifting slowly toward Tang Lici's chest. The strangeness of the blade's movement was something Yu Furen had never witnessed before. Xuan Yuanlong, of course, recognized this as Chi Yun's signature technique, "The Red Lotus Opens for Karma, Saving Life, Fate, and Souls of the Dead"—specifically, the "Souls of the Dead" stance, the most unpredictable of the "Eighteen Cuts of Salvation." Countless treacherous villains had been quartered under this strike, but...
But Chi Yun had lost his mind, and the man standing before him was Tang Lici.
A gentle breeze blew from behind Tang Lici, lifting countless silver strands of hair. Yu Furen stared intently at Tang Lici and suddenly noticed blood staining his sleeve. His heart skipped a beat—had he been injured? The crowd held their breath as the two faced off. Tang Lici remained composed, while Chi Yun's wind-borne silver blade grew increasingly erratic in the gusts, fluttering unpredictably as it inched closer to Tang Lici's chest. Just as the tension peaked, a sudden flash of white light forced everyone to shut their eyes against the searing pain. A ghostly howl of steel tore through the air, the blade's shriek as piercing as a wailing child. Then came a dull thud—clang!—before anyone could open their eyes, they already knew: the blade had shattered.
When they looked again, Chi Yun's Moon Crossing Ring lay broken in two on the ground. Yet how had Tang Lici countered such an unfathomable strike? No one could tell. Xuan Yuanlong gasped sharply as Chi Yun reached for his waist, drawing a second Moon Crossing Ring. His eyes burned with defiance, even a hint of maddened glee deep within. Was this still Chi Yun? No—this was a vengeful spirit, a demon of slaughter that had somehow stumbled into the mortal realm...
"You—" Chi Yun growled again, low and guttural, gripping his second blade. His stance flowed like cascading waterfalls, unexpectedly graceful and unrestrained. The blade danced like a rainbow amidst the spray, its cold edge carrying the faintest chill, as gentle as a spring drizzle. Yet within that elegance lay a deadly strike, a dance of water's grace and spring's vitality! Yu Furen's expression shifted slightly—this blade's essence far surpassed Chi Yun's usual skill. Tang Lici had forced him to take the Ape-Demon Nine Hearts Pill again, amplifying his strength and unhinging his mind, pushing his swordsmanship beyond its limits. This Chi Yun was now a runaway beast, terrifying in his unrestrained fury.
The blade surged forth like a melting snow tide. Tang Lici reached into his robes, retrieving an object—a flick of his wrist, and shadows multiplied. It was the copper flute. The crowd's hearts lifted at the sight—Tang Lici's mastery of sound assassination was legendary. No matter how divine Chi Yun's blade techniques had become, they could never withstand the flute's lethal resonance. It seemed Chi Yun might yet be saved.But why did Tang Lici's eyes remain so deep and complex, swirling with countless emotions and meanings, yet never showing a hint of a smile? The copper flute was drawn but not played. Instead, a crisp clang rang out as the flute clashed against the Moon Crossing Ring. With a simple, unremarkable swing, the copper flute managed to block that blade strike, which carried the force of melting snow and surging floods. Chi Yun's eyes burned with fury as he let out a furious roar—"Ah!"—and poured his surging strength into the silver blade, pressing it relentlessly toward Tang Lici's copper flute. At this moment, his Internal Force was boundless, and he gave no thought to whether he might collapse from exhaustion. With a wet "pfft," Tang Lici opened his mouth and sprayed a mist of blood, splattering Chi Yun's face and hair. The copper flute withdrew, yet Chi Yun's blade did not slow—it slashed into Tang Lici's shoulder with a dull thud, sending blood gushing forth like a spring. Yet Tang Lici's flute, now retracted, spun lightly in his hand, and with the flute's two-foot length, he thrust it straight toward Chi Yun's throat.
A slash from a blade was merely an external wound—far from fatal. But a strike from the copper flute, even with only thirty percent of his strength, would be lethal! Before the onlookers could even process their shock at Tang Lici spitting blood under Chi Yun's blade, they were already horrified by the merciless precision of this strike. Though his movement lacked ferocity, there was not the slightest hesitation.
That lack of hesitation was as if he had never known Chi Yun—as if he had never exhausted himself to save him.
Like chopping cabbage—without a single tremor of emotion.
As if his blood ran cold as ice.
Like a game of chess, where nothing mattered beyond victory or defeat.
With a wet "pfft," the copper flute pierced through flesh, scattering droplets of blood like scattered petals onto Tang Lici's cheeks. Then came another sound—a sharp "thud"—the noise of a blade sinking into flesh. Tang Lici's eyes, chillingly calm, watched as Xuan Yuanlong stepped in front of Chi Yun. The copper flute had pierced a bloody hole through Xuan Yuanlong's left shoulder—a hole that should have opened in Chi Yun's throat. Xuan Yuanlong had rushed forward at the last moment, taking the blow meant for Chi Yun. Behind him was another gaping wound, this one through the heart—inflicted by the Moon Crossing Ring.
"W-wait…" Xuan Yuanlong, bearing these two grievous wounds—one in front, one in back—wore an expression of agony and disbelief. "You… you said you would save him…" Before he could finish, the Moon Crossing Ring was abruptly pulled from his back, and blood erupted in a violent spray. Xuan Yuanlong collapsed against Tang Lici, dead before he hit the ground.
Tang Lici stood motionless, allowing Xuan Yuanlong's corpse to slump against his chest, the hot blood instantly staining his entire robe crimson. Yes, he should have exhausted every effort to save Chi Yun—so why had he struck without mercy just now? Why had he sought to kill Chi Yun? Perhaps moments ago, no one could understand. But now, seeing the horrifying wound on Xuan Yuanlong's back, everyone understood completely—
Chi Yun was beyond saving.
He had to die.
If Chi Yun was not killed, only more would fall by his hand. Only his death could be his salvation.
OpenNovel