Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!
As if a flash of lightning, the shining spear zoomed across the sky, spraying innumerable sparkles.
It was undeniable that Meng Wu’s strength was extremely strong. The silver spear in his hand moved agilely like a silver dragon. It spat spear light, spread silver sparkles like pear blossoms, thrust swiftly and accurately. Adding Meng Wu’s high cultivation, it seemed that he could carry the world before one.
The pair of swords held by the masked young man in white, however, wielded as fast as the glint of a white horse across a chink in the door. The moving swords formed a protective shield that was so fine that not a raindrop or a splash of water could get through it. Also, his attack was concealed in the defense. Intermittently, the swords would thrust forward right as Meng Wu’s energy was exhausted but yet got around to be replenished. That way, Meng Wu was forced to pull back his spear to fend off the thrust.
Moreover, what made Meng Wu speechless was the masked young man in white, though obviously had not reached the Natural Realm, still managed to resist the storm of attacks he launched solely by dint of his ingenious sword skill and his combat instincts.
“You all stand down! Don’t butt in! I’ll capture this evil remainder of the Tang family by myself!”
Meng Wu bawled the order at the soldiers out of exasperation.
However, about half an hour later, he found an ominous feeling grew steadily in his heart.
At the start of the fight, the opponent was just about to be pierced to death by his spear. But the swordsman rapidly withdrew the swords and blocked the spear plunging at him with the momentum of the thunder with a Holding Fire Style. That was a breakthrough made in a live battle. Then, as the fight went on, the opponent’s aura should grow progressively. His sword qi became chilling, giving the sign of another new breakthrough.
“Fu*k, is he is combat genius or what?”
Meng Wu was overwhelmed by a rush of fury and annoyance.
“Kill!”
He flicked his spear and showered the opponent in the spear sparkles. All of a sudden, his left hand swiftly drew back and groped out a pitch-black injector. He screwed the bottom of the nozzle, then, with a loud bang, fine needles as numerous as the hair on an ox back squirted out from the nozzle and lunged straight at that masked young man in white.
“You…” The masked young man in white did not see it coming that Meng Wu would adopt such a despicable sneak attack in their battle. He instinctively raised his swords to shield his body. But since his sword style was already cracked, he felt a pang of numbness in his chest, and next, his left shoulder was penetrated by the spear, and he was thrown backward.
Without a word, Meng Wu jerked his silver spear forward again, this time aiming at his heart.
Just as the masked young man in white was about to be killed by the spear, like his other companions, he curiously had a dagger in his hand and shoved it directly at his face, attempting to destroy his appearance in case he was recognized by the enemy and later brought disaster to his sect and loved ones…
However, at the precise moment—
Whiz!
A jet of blade light flitted past!
The young man felt his palm abruptly vibrated and the dagger was thrown out of his hand under the impact.
Meanwhile, the silver spear charging at him was hit by another jet of blade light. With a crack, the spear was bent from the middle. Meng Wu, who was grasping the end of the spear, let loose a startled cry. As the spear trembled violently, the part of his hand between the thumb and the index finger was already bleeding profusely, no longer able to hold the spear. In an instant, the silver weapon snapped and darted to the sky…
The two jets of blade light, still, were in midair. They spun on the spot and then floated over their heads as if they had sprung to life.
In fact, the two jets of blade light were issued by two exotic flying broadswords in light blue.
“Who is it?” bellowed Meng Wu with both spleen and astonishment. But shortly, his pupils narrowed slightly.
Because he saw a streak of silver light crossed the distant sky and soared in their direction.
And on the glowing broadsword stood a man.
“Broadsword-commanding skill!”
“It’s Li Mu!”
The one who gave him a blow at the most crucial moment was exactly his biggest nightmare these days—the magistrate of Taibai County, Li Mu.
“Knights from Song Dynasty wore unadorned hatbands and carried shining machetes…”
Riding on the broadsword and reciting a poem, Li Mu approached the place like an immortal riding on the wind.
Swish! Swish!
As the first line of the poem was out, the two bizarre flying broadswords fluttered backward like swallows returning to their nest. Then, they blended into the massive silver broadsword under Li Mu’s feet and perfectly combined into one.
“Li Mu, how dare you join in league with the evil remainders of the Tang family…” Meng Wu widened his eyes and bared his teeth in vex. At that moment, rage went rampant inside him. With his hair and beard bristling with anger, he snarled, “You dare to turn up on such an occasion! You first conspired with the demon races, now befriended the evil remainders of the Tang family. You are indeed heedless of consequences! Bros, kill him!”
On the ground, countless Star-demolishing Bow aimed at the Li Mu in midair and fired simultaneously.
As if a swarm of locusts, the arrows showered at Li Mu.
“His silver broadsword showed against his white coat, and the horse galloped forward as fast as a shooting star!”
Li Mu continued to recite the poem, Ode to Gallantry, which was composed by the great poet Li Bai on Earth, though he changed the word ‘saddle’ into ‘broadsword.’ His eyes glinted with killing intent.
Today, he had come to the spot to kill!
Swish! Swish! Swish!
The large silver Samsara Knife under his feet suddenly disassembled into twenty-four small flying broadswords. The blades in various colors circled the place with a stream of clinks and clanks. In a minute, all the Star-cracking Arrows were cracked, smashed, sent flying in other directions before turning into dust. After that, the twenty-four flying broadswords melted into the giant silver Samsara Knife again and soared back at Li Mu’s feet.
That scene was ineffably cool and miraculous. Everyone was dazzled and almost believed it was a means invented by the immortals.
The armored soldiers of the patrolling regiment on the ground all cried with astonishment.
“That is… the means of the immortals!”
“Celestial Being! He must be a Celestial Being!”
“We can’t fight him!”
They immediately lost the morale to fight.
“Where is the second prince?” Li Mu spoke in a loud voice. “Come out and take my blows!”
On that day, at the gate of the Hanshan Academy, the one using a golden fingerprint to bombard Shangguan Yuting was precisely the second prince.
No decent man would hold back his revenge.
By then, Li Mu had refined the Samsara Knife again, achieved the Primitive Accomplishment of the Wind-Cloud Six Moves, and gained the Full Accomplishment of the broadsword-commanding skill!
Today, Li Mu was there for vengeance.
…
…
From the great hall marched out a handsome middle-aged man.
His face was smooth as jade, his brows sleek and sharp as swords, his eyes shining like stars. He looked around forty years old but in perfect shape. Not a single wrinkle could be seen on his face, nor a grain of dust. His thick, long black hair wore into a bun and fixated with a delicate jade hairpin mounted in gold, not a lock of hair drooping astray. He was cladding a light purple robe made of silk, with a jade pendant dangling from his waist. He was relatively tall and slender, and all of his body parts were in impeccable proportions. A sense of authority and prestige that could be hardly concealed in his civilized manner could be detected on his features. Everyone knew at a glance that he was a man in the high class.
As that man came to the view, Qin Yanzi and the others went dumbstruck at once.
“He is Li Gang, the governor of Chang’an?”
“His Lordship?”
“Who are you kidding?”
On that day of the battle in the Heaven Sword Martial Club, Qin Yanzi and the Marvelous Mathematician had caught a few glimpses of His Lordship from a distance.
“Uncle Handsome, who are you?” asked Tang Mi, her eyes rounded with innocence and curiosity. Compared with the zombie-like face of the head of the Ghost Sect, the smart and elegant Li Gang undoubtedly was more agreeable and attractive in the eyes of both the young and the old. The little girl giggled and said, “This is great, great! Uncle Handsome, here you are, sugar-coated haws… But, could you leave one haw to Mi’er? Only one haw!”
Li Gang laughed a hearty laugh.
He took the sugar-coated haws on a stick, bit off one haw, and handed the rest back to the girl. “These three haws are reserved for you, pretty girl. Haha, your Uncle Handsome will do with only one haw.” Then, he slowly chewed that sugar-coated haw, reveling in its sweetness.
At that time, the head of the Ghost Sect already learned Li Gang’s status after being tipped off by a leader of the armored soldiers.
He immediately felt unnerved.
As the governor of a province, the actual ruler of Chang’an, Li Gang was in a high and influential position, enjoying the real power over the territory. He was more intimidating than some of the successors to the throne. Also, he was one of the dozen titans standing at the top of the pyramid in the Western Qin Empire. Even the heads of a first-grade sect could barely be on par with such a great figure.
“Your Honor Li, are you going to take side with the evil remainders of the Tang family?” inquired the head of the Ghost Sect gingerly.
Li Gang walked down the stone staircases unhurriedly, then, with an indifferent face, he said, “Of course not.”
The head of the Ghost Sect instantly breathed a sigh of relief and said, “Such being the case, I beg Your Honor to retire from this place and go to somewhere else for the time. Because I’m here to finish off the evil remainders of the Tang family under the order of the second prince…”
But Li Gang cut him off by demanding, “Are you the head of the Ghost Sect?”
Knitting his brows, the head of the Ghost Sect nodded. “Yes, I am.”
Li Gang nodded thoughtfully. Then, he said, “Good… Weeks ago on the night of the Top Beauty Competition held by the Musical House, practitioners from your Ghost Sect slaughtered Cai Zhijie, an official of the empire. The Ghost Sect has committed the worst crime, defied the laws and regulations, so they ought to be executed. As their head, you failed to properly manage your subordinates. You can hardly be spared, either. Now, you have no alternative other than surrendering yourself to the official force, do you?”
“What?” The head of the Ghost Sect turned pale in a second. He then protested, “Your Honor, what do you mean by that?”
Li Gang did not say anything else but launched his strike straight away. He briskly lifted a hand and pressed the thumb and the middle finger together. Next, layers of golden lines of a star deployment materialized between his thumb and middle finger. Soon, an enormous pattern of a star deployment took shape, enigmatic inscriptions twirling around it. With a snap of his fingers, a jet of sword light shot out from his fingertips.
Whoosh!
The sword light pelted forward like electric.
The face of the head of the Ghost Sect changed drastically. The Netherworld qi started circling him. All his forbidding moves and tricks were exercised as if he was trying to awake the Death in the Netherworld deep down the earth.
The vile qi of death instantly pervaded over the place.
Up in the void, there seemed to be a demon from the Hades, who was grinning, ready to raise his sickle and take the souls of living people.
Nevertheless, all that was useless.
In the middle of performing his ace move, when the qi of death was rising, and the blood-curdling face of the Death in the underworld was about to be fully summoned there, the head of the Ghost Sect saw a jet of golden sword light burst from Li Gang’s fingers and cut through his protective qi as easily as cutting tofu with a sharp knife. Then, the light pierced the half-formed face of the Death as well as the forehead of the Ghost Sect chief.
Blood gushed out like arrows.
The Netherworld qi wrapping around the head of the Ghost Sect disband like collapsing sand sculptures in a trice. The face of the Death in the Netherworld was also reduced into a pile of dust and dispersed in the air. As to the head of the Ghost Sect himself, he was dead already before he fell on his back.
One single strike showed people who the winner was, who the loser was, and who was to live, who was to die.
A Celestial Being held in awe had just died. He died so fast. In a second, he was gone, even before everyone else realized what happened.
But right at that moment, a loud shout was heard outside of the martial art club.
“Where is the second prince? Show yourself and take my blows!”
…
…
Right then, the second prince was wearing a smile.
The head of the Ghost Sect had died. That unparalleled expert in the Celestial Being Realm had once been a great help to the second prince. Back then, he had spent quite an amount of time and energy to make the Celestial Being submit himself to his reign. But sadly, a moment ago, he was killed the moment he was distracted by Li Mu. The attack came so fast that it left him no time to rescue the victim.
And the one who murdered the head of the Ghost Sect was precisely Li Gang, the magistrate of Chang’an.
Since Li Gang arrived in Chang’an, he had laid low and remained silent all the time, behaving almost like a coward. So, it was beyond everyone’s expectations that he had appeared at the least place he should be and displayed inconceivably strong power by killing a Celestial Being with just one move.
The head of the Ghost Sect was a henchman of the second prince.
He had been killed, but the second prince was still smiling, because the fish he had been waiting for just bit the bait.
…
“It’s time that I drew in the net.”
“The moment I looked forward to for such a long time finally comes!”
The second prince was a little excited. His eyes pierced through the distant pile of dust and settled upon that gentle-looking middle-aged handsome man before the hall, gleaming with the eagerness to try out his strength. He wanted to come forward in person to challenge that man who used to be one of the legends in the martial arts world of the empire.
