Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
Many years ago, when Gu Shenwei and Lotus were still teenagers and still early on their comprehension of the Death Scripture, any routine partnered practice would always ended up turning into a life-or-death duel. Thus, they had no choice but to adopt another training tactic: one of them would go kill someone else, and the other would secretly observe the fighting process. Afterwards, they would discuss the murder process and their actual feelings and experiences to help each other improve.
As their swordsmanship grew more powerful, the chasm between their opinions began to widen even further, and eventually this tactical practice became unnecessary.
As a result, in Gu Shenwei and Lotus’s eyes, the Death Scripture was a swordsmanship that its wielder was supposed to explore alone. Even the most basic form of cooperation would hinder the user’s movements, let alone the so-called “saber-sword cooperation” that Old Man Mu was shouting about.
When Gu Shenwei stabbed at Luo Qibai with his saber, he had no intentions of “helping” Lotus. He merely thought that Luo Qibai’s swordsmanship was the most powerful and threatening, so he should naturally be the highest priority target. Gu Shenwei and Lotus had had previous experiences of attacking an enemy simultaneously; yet, they had never truly joined hands.
It was that brief moment of eye contact with Lotus that had changed his mentality and sabersmanship.
Apathy was like a thick cocoon. It blocked the sight of others, yet hid nothing from like-minded people – Gu Shenwei could sense the burning hatred in Lotus as clear as day.
Servant Yao’s death, setbacks in love, clashing interests, divergent swordsmanship practice methods – all of these things were sources of hatred. They had all amalgamated together into an extraordinary emotion that fanned her hatred like no other. What was unique about this hatred was that it also bore with it some kind of inexplicable pleasure.
This pleasure became a connection between the two.
Gu Shenwei was stimulated by the hatred. All these years, he had been carving and perfecting his hatred like a hard-working craftsman, gradually giving it a gentle, exquisite shape.
Yet Lotus made him realize that inside the heart of this sculpture, his hatred was still like a ferocious beast which refused to be restrained – it was just waiting for an opportunity.
The target of Gu Shenwei’s saber attack was not just Luo Qibai. In his mind, after going through the enemy, the blade would keep progressing until it reached the final target – Lotus.
Lotus had the same intention and her will was even stronger than Gu Shenwei’s.
Hatred and pleasure mixed together irreversibly, both of them ordering their owners to kill the target in an indisputable tone.
This was the most dreadful life-or-death fight they had ever faced, its scope eclipsing even their own lives.
However, between them, there was another person.
Luo Qibai was shocked. The saber and the sword had doubled in power at the same time and had instantly shattered his Tangled Silk Swordsmanship. But he couldn’t even figure out the source of this surge in power at all.
Fortunately, the moment he left the fight, the Dragon King and Lotus immediately engaged each other and didn’t continue pursuing him.
Li Tongsheng didn’t sense the danger yet. Luo Qibai’s retreat left the central position open, so he subconsciously rushed over to claim it – as a renowned bandit and the top-notch kung fu expert of the Heavenly Mountain Sect, Li Tongsheng had his own pride.
Yet this pride nearly killed him.
A saber and a sword swerved at him simultaneously and he immediately understood why the Central Plains man had backed off. The woman’s sword was extremely bloodthirsty and when it hit his palm-gusts, it was like a huge wave crashing onto a giant cliff; on the other hand, the man’s saber was extremely devious and always launched attacks from unexpected angles through the narrow gap between his palm-gusts, like a venomous snake striking in the darkness.
Lightness skills had never been Li Tongsheng’s forte, so he was unable to make a smoother retreat like Luo Qibai had and was forced to roll on the ground, surviving the attack in a humiliating way.
Dragon King and Lotus still didn’t pursue him – once their common target disappeared, they resumed attacking each other right away.
However, the situation suddenly changed radically.
Originally, Luo Qibai was at the center of the battle. Gu Shenwei and Lotus were fighting against him for most of the time, while Li Tongsheng was merely on the periphery, distracting the two.
But now, Gu Shenwei and Lotus were the only ones to occupy the core location, their fight becoming increasingly fiercer with every clash between the saber and the sword. Luo Qibai and Li Tongsheng could only stay outside and patiently search for an opportunity to make a move. Neither of them dared to recklessly throw themselves in between the saber and the sword again.
“All of you, engage!” Li Tongsheng yelled. He was a bandit from the Western Regions. Victory was his only concern and rules didn’t mean anything to him at all.
Upon hearing the order, the four disciples of the Heavenly Mountain Sect joined the battle. The five men of the Central Plains hesitated for a moment and then also joined the tangled fight after obtaining Luo Qibai’s tacit consent. These nine men formed the third ring.
On the other side, Old Man Mu and Dog Butcher had finally grasped the upper hand in their fight.
Wild Horse’s kung fu had improved considerably, and was actually no worse than Dog Butcher’s. With his many years’ accumulation of experience and ruthlessness, he had held a slight advantage over his opponent at the onset of the fight. Although Dog Butcher had yelled that he was going to use his unique skills and make a deadly move, he was not determined enough to actually do it. And besides that, his moves still contained more elements of defense than offense.
Inspired by the cooperation between Lotus and Dragon King, Old Man Mu had wielded his sword and joined the fight. Although his moves were still intermittent and disorderly, the strength of his attack was growing greater and Wild Horse’s momentum was gradually being overshadowed.
Among all the people fighting, Old Man Mu was under the least pressure. As he attacked Wild Horse, he didn’t forget about the fiercer fight taking place nearby. In a funny tone, he yelled, “One more stab! One more slash! You two morons, why are you fighting each other again? One more move and the enemy will be dead!”
But neither Gu Shenwei nor Lotus could afford to waste a move on another enemy. Respectively, their true target was still each other, and attacking a third person would be synonymous to handing their own lives over.
Old Man Mu was handling his sword more and more smoothly. His kung fu skills stemmed from many sources, and he had also heavily researched other martial arts. Seeing that the Dragon King and Lotus were refusing to take his advice, he shifted his attention onto another person. “Old Dog, why are you dodging? Just man up and attack him. Wild Horse’s definitely going to dodge. Then you can just launch another attack and victory’ll be yours. You don’t have many years left to live and he’s still a young man. Although he’s lost an arm, he still cares about his life more than you do. So he should be afraid of you, and not the opposite – You little bastard! So ruthless! Have you forgotten about how good I was to you? If I didn’t take you in, you wouldn’t have been Wild Horse but instead the fertilizer for wild grass…”
Wild Horse had lived with Old Man Mu for quite a long time, and the most intolerable thing about it was Old Man Mu’s chatter. Back then he had no choice, but now he was stronger than Old Man Mu, so he didn’t show any mercy and switched targets to attack Old Man Mu.
Dog Butcher’s pressure was greatly reduced. In a surprised tone, he asked, “You told me to man up, but why are you dodging all the time now?”
“It’s different,” Old Man Mu hastily replied. He had lost a great part of his power, so despite his abundant knowledge of martial arts, all he could do now was perform the Subtle Shadow Lightness Skill and hope to survive. “I’m going to have a lengthy life. It shouldn’t be a problem for me to live an extra 60 or 70 years. But Wild Horse is destined to die young. As far as I can tell, he won’t make it to the end of this year. So in this case, I’m the one who cares more about surviving…”
“I’m in pretty good shape myself and I have plenty of years to live. Why did you say that I don’t have to care about my life while Wild Horse does?” Dog Butcher had been gradually transforming into a chatterbox like Old Man Mu – just like how the old saying ‘one becomes the company he keeps’ went.
This doubled Wild Horse’s suffering, but the only response he could make was increasingly faster narrow saber strikes.
Dog Butcher parried Wild Horse’s fast saber slash, but Old Man Mu turned and ran away, shouting, “Dragon King, I’m coming to help you!”
It was only a distance of a dozen steps. After two or three leaps, Old Man Mu had entered the outer circle of the battle.
Wild Horse pursued him closely, and thus joined the main battle along with Dog Butcher.
The situation became even more chaotic with the addition of these three people. Without anyone protecting the bodies on the ground, flocks of crows began to scramble for their breakfast, letting out deafening cries.
Old Man Mu was the only beneficiary of the chaotic battle. He was the smallest, had excellent lightness skills, and was not targeted by anyone except for Wild Horse. With so many advantages, Old Man Mu danced everywhere nonchalantly. Once, he even rushed between the Dragon King and Lotus and personally experienced the power of the “saber-sword cooperation.”
“Awesome!” Old Man Mu escaped with an even more awkward move than Li Tongsheng’s, but the look on his face was extremely excited. “I get it! Ha-ha, finally I get it!”
Old Man Mu didn’t say what he got, but he changed his strategy, and started continuously pressuring the nine people on the periphery, forcing them to move closer to the center, narrowing the Luo Qibai and Li Tongsheng’s range of movement.
This was an unusual battle, the respective sides of which collectively formed a whirlpool. And gradually, none of them were able to make an easy retreat any longer.
Luo Qibai was the first one to become vigilant. After weighing the pros and cons for a short while, he loudly offered, “Li Tongsheng, fight by yourself, or fight side by side with me. Choose.”
Li Tongsheng snorted. He had also noticed that his maneuverability room was narrowing, and that the pressure on him had increased. So after pushing back with three consecutive palm attacks, he answered, “Side by side it is.”
“Everybody back off. Kill the three on the outside first.” Luo Qibai’s strategy was to kill the troublemakers while the Dragon King and Lotus cut each other’s throat.
In response, Old Man Mu yelled out, “Wild Horse, let’s put aside our personal grudges as well, okay? Though I have done you more favor than harm, I won’t haggle!”
Clearly, Wild Horse was not much of a pushover as Li Tongsheng. His narrow saber didn’t slow down at all.
Though the men from the Central Plains and the Heavenly Mountain Sect surrounded both the Dragon King and Lotus, they were also very wary of each other. It was not until Luo Qibai gave the order that they began to focus all their attention on the same enemies.
The tangled battle didn’t last for much longer. Barely had the sun fully risen that a series of accidents suddenly brought the battle to an end.
The first accident was Li Tongsheng. His palm attack hit a man from the Central Plains out of the blue. “Four versus four would be much fa-” Before he could finish his sentence, he had been stabbed in his side.
The second accident was Luo Qibai. It was hard to tell whether he had planned it all out in advance or if he had changed his move just that fast. Either way, the moment Li Tongsheng made that palm attack, Luo Qibai’s sword stabbed at Li Tongsheng as he yelled, “I knew that men of the Western Regions are not trustworthy!”
The one who continued to make more accidental moves was still Luo Qibai. After stabbing his target with his sword, he immediately backed off to the outer circle and started a one-versus-many fight, unexpectedly forcing all the others towards Dragon King and Lotus.
His strategy was the same as that of Old Man Mu, only with the opposite purpose.
The entangled battle had now turned into a battle of pressure. The saber and the sword in the center of the whirlpool refused to spare any outsider who entered. Even if someone just accidentally stepped in, they would still be killed – not everybody’s strength was as great as Luo Qibai’s, and not everybody’s lightness skills as good as Old Man Mu’s.
Luo Qibai was growing impatient, so he began to drive everybody into the center of death, and his men from the Central Plains were no exception. He believed that the man and the woman locked in a life-or-death fight with each other would eventually reveal some flaws as they were forced to deal with the cannon fodder he was driving into them.
Old Man Mu, Dog Butcher and Wild Horse were all forced into fighting against a common enemy, but they were still no match for him. Bit by bit, they were forced closer to the saber and the sword at the center.
There was only one thought on Old Man Mu’s mind – to flee immediately. He ran into the inner circle but was unexpectedly got trapped inside. “Dragon King! Stop! Else everyone’s going to die!”
Gu Shenwei couldn’t stop, and he couldn’t even think about stopping. Lotus’s sword was constantly aimed at his head at all times, and even the breaths he took had to be done with great caution.
“Well if I’m going to die, you’re going to die with me!” Old Man Mu threw caution to the wind. Unexpectedly, both Dog Butcher and Wild Horse understand his plan with just those words. The three men simultaneously made their respective moves, entangling Luo Qibai tightly and forcing him into the whirlpool.
The outsiders tore a crack in the seamless barrage of Gu Shenwei’s saber and Lotus’s sword. Both of them felt an intense desire to seal that crack.
The intruders went down one by one until Luo Qibai was the last one left alive. He only lasted ten moves before going down with enormous confusion and disbelief on his face.
There was no one other than the man with a saber and the woman with a sword left now. Gu Shenwei attacked with his palm, and Lotus fought back with her finger technique. Then both sides suddenly backed off.
A figure suddenly leaped upwards from behind Lotus, its long hair scattering in all direction, and ten fingers forming into two claws as a murder of crows flew behind it.
“Traitor!” Han Wuxian finally found the opportunity she had been waiting for.
