Chief Luo squinted his eyes and thought carefully.
“Different from the previous assassins.” Chief Luo suddenly developed a strong interest. He was not purely a man of the martial world, and he had seen scenes filled with corpses everywhere.
Although Suo Li’s murderous aura was startling, it did not go beyond the nature of an assassin.
This kind of targeted killing intent felt like a blade hanging overhead. If it remained undiscovered for too long, it would drive people into irritation and rage. But in the end, it was still just a bug lurking in the shadows. As long as one thought of a way to swat it, the danger would vanish in an instant.
This time it felt different.
It was as if one stood upon a battlefield of thousands, fighting and killing, and a layer of goosebumps rose on the back of the neck. Both hands urgently wanted to clutch a weapon and turn around to meet this blood-soaked battle, to greet that magnificent spectacle of corpses everywhere, with rivers of blood flowing.
Life and death, their boundary unclear.
Flesh and soul, all were rotten wood.
Chief Luo took a deep breath in intoxication. The Holy Lotus Sect had no such expert, and the rebels also lacked a general of this calibre.
——Even Zheng Tu, though he had killed many, had still killed too few!
Commanding ten thousand troops, slaughtering at will, then stepping atop boundless corpses and rising above all beings.
That was Chief Luo’s ambition. He might not have wanted to be the ruler of all, but he had long grown weary of wandering in the martial world. Controlling a bunch of fools meant nothing. Even if countless people trembled on their knees before him, life would be too dull.
What a pity he was born too late. A few decades earlier, the world would not have been like this.
“Stop the carriage.” At Chief Luo’s command, the followers of the Holy Lotus Sect all halted.
Everyone watched in astonishment as Chief Luo turned around and walked back, ignoring everything else.
“Chief, the Star Lord is waiting for you at the front…”
The Holy Lotus Sect Protector, who was speaking, suddenly fell silent because he saw Chief Luo pick up a weapon in an unusual manner.
It was a genuine weapon, not some blade grabbed on a whim or a pair of bare palms.
It was a rather bizarre weapon, shaped like a crescent halberd. The ratio of its sharp tip and hooked curve was extremely exaggerated, and the edge of the crescent blade resembled serrated teeth. Once it cut into flesh, it would leave traces of a wild beast’s bite, shattering the wound and making bones hard to heal.
This was obviously not a conventional weapon in the martial world; it drew too much attention and was inconvenient to carry.
Yet anyone who had seen Chief Luo wield this weapon felt deep fear toward the leader of the Holy Lotus Sect.
The worship of believers did not bind that body; it was possessed by a demon craving the taste of flesh and blood.
Perhaps for the sake of expanding the Holy Lotus Sect, Chief Luo seldom revealed this bloodthirsty side. But with those from wicked paths who joined the Altar, he had no such scruples.
After all, to deal with evil people, one needed to be even more evil. If one failed to intimidate these lawless types and make them afraid, there was no way to gather that strength effectively.
——He personally dismembered anyone who defied his will, and he liked to do it in front of his subordinates.
The transition from Chief to fiend depended solely on whether he held that weapon. This tactic was highly effective. It seemed a large portion of their fear was transferred onto that crescent halberd, so usually the halberd was kept in a carriage or a military tent.
At that moment, the Protector and the others held their breath, pupils contracting sharply, and they instinctively stepped back.
Who would still dare to mention that the Tianshou King was waiting for Chief Luo!
Frankly speaking, the members of the Holy Lotus Sect held a peculiar view of the Tianshou King. They could not fathom what sort of being he truly was, primarily because they encountered a fake version most of the time. After so many impostors, even if the real one showed up, they would still be confused.
But Chief Luo wholeheartedly insisted on following the Tianshou King or using his banner for leverage. Who would dare question why? A fool who did that would never live long enough to rise in the Holy Lotus Sect.
News of the disturbance at the rear had not yet arrived.
Under the glow of the flames, the Tianshou King’s carriage appeared extremely splendid, as if there were no fear of ambush.
The puppet trembled as he sat inside. His pressure points had been sealed, and he could not speak or move.
To outsiders, he seemed well-protected, even flanked by two holy maidens. However, this pitiful man with a purple-gold mask felt like a fish on the chopping block, a piece of meat on a roasting fire.
One stray arrow could easily take his life, and he would remain upright, as if impenetrable, unable to cry out even if his blood ran dry.
This was no luxurious carriage. It was a cage of death, a stage to showcase the so-called might of the “Purple Star Lord.”
The rebel soldiers knew nothing of the truth. Seeing the carriage comforted them greatly, even speeding up their work.
They dragged over the wood left behind near the city walls after the Jingzhou army’s defeat and piled it on an open field.
Ahead stood a county-level inner fortress with four corner watchtowers. Torchlight illuminated the night like day.
The Jingzhou army had believed the city could be held for ten days or more, so they had ample military supplies. Now it all belonged to the Tianshou King’s forces.
Zheng Tu’s face and body were wrapped in thick white bandages, giving him a very strange appearance. Many other officers in the rebel army looked much the same. Either they had been scorched by flying embers that fateful night or hit by shards of stone infused with inner force, leaving them disfigured.
Though Zheng Tu was the most severely injured, he was also the least concerned of all. Others were feverish and unconscious or barely able to show themselves, unable even to mount a horse. They did not possess his formidable inner strength.
But Zheng Tu was still affected by his wounds. The constant, subtle pain fueled his anger.
One did not strike a man’s face. Even the roughest rogue on the street knew that. Yet that mysterious blade-wielder was so brazen, as though he was toying with everyone before rescuing the assassin and calmly leaving. It was just like when he dared to guard Huaxian’s city wall alone, as if he were using such gestures to show his power.
——He was saying he was capable of it, and he had the means to destroy all of Zheng Tu’s painstaking plans.
Even though the impact so far was small, it caused trouble.
Zheng Tu could not help but touch the cloth strips covering his face, pondering how to capture several famous physicians from the south. He refused to let his face be ruined. No emperor had ever risen with a face full of scars. In fact, losing an eye or a leg was far better than being disfigured.
The Tianshou King’s mask was so lavish, adorned with many features, even smoky crystals at the eyes, enough to alter the color of one’s gaze from afar—perfectly concealing his identity. But once shattered, it would cause especially serious injury.
Putting that aside, when the government came to “offer amnesty and recruit” in the future, if Zheng Tu still wore a hideous face, the official rank bestowed upon him would undoubtedly be lower than he expected. Zheng Tu found that unacceptable.
“What’s going on?” Zheng Tu snapped back to his senses, realizing Chief Luo and the others had not arrived yet. It was like a grand show unable to start on time.
The Tianshou King in the carriage could not speak, so Zheng Tu naturally took on the role of questioning.
Those he questioned had no answer. It was too dark to see what was happening in the rear, and their torchlight here was too bright.
Zheng Tu frowned. Instinct told him something else was afoot, so he did not hesitate. “Attack.”
“General Zheng?”
Those who heard the command stared in surprise. Chief Luo held a lofty status; how could they launch an assault without waiting for him?
Zheng Tu casually said: “Chief Luo was worried about the demons’ mischief and might have already gone with the Holy Maidens to perform a ritual at the City God Temple. Right now, attacking the city to stabilize the King’s aura was of the utmost importance and could not be delayed. Did you want His Majesty to continue waiting here?”
Without waiting for anyone to respond, Zheng Tu’s personal troops received his signal and were the first to fire an arrow—wrapped in oilcloth and set ablaze—toward the pile of wood heaped up like a small mountain.
As if a signal had been given, the rebel soldiers shouted in frenzy, scrambling to throw their torches. Flames shot skyward, thick smoke rolling upward.
The wind happened to carry the black smoke toward the inner city, choking the Jingzhou troops on the arrow towers. They looked terrified.
——Was this a coincidence?
Did someone in the rebel ranks understand the heavenly signs, knowing the westerly wind would blow all night, or did they just randomly set a fire, unafraid of it turning back on them?
“Blazing flames burn the heavens, the red lotus purges the earth!”
“The Purple Star Lord, Heaven’s mandate descends!”
The Holy Maidens led the believers in chanting and shouting. The heavy catapults were slowly pushed forward, ready to bombard the inner city gate.
The Jingzhou troops were in agony. Their enemy seemed both mindless and yet mixed with well-trained soldiers. How could bandits be so adept at using siege engines?
In truth, this so-called Tianshou King’s army was not terribly formidable; they were more like locusts arising in troubled times. Even if there had once been troops from Yizhou among them, they could only manage the basics of siege warfare. The problem lay in the fact that the Jingzhou army in Nanping’s county seat was even worse.
If either side was rotten, the Jingzhou army was the more so.
They lacked morale and had no competent general to rely on.
Zheng Tu narrowed his eyes, staring at the city walls. He was preparing to make the rebel army appear more intimidating, hopefully scaring the Jingzhou nobles half to death.
——As for being granted amnesty and acceptance? He had never intended to side with the Three Kings of Old Chu. The only place that could tolerate him, and become his fertile ground, was the Qi Dynasty.
The Qi Dynasty would not care how many people died in Jiangnan. They might even be willing to promise him high rank and wealth, letting him continue to ravage the south!
Plundering Jingzhou, bringing chaos to Yangzhou—everything was just beginning.
“Kill.”
Zheng Tu shouted loudly.
Under his command, whether they believed in the Purple Star Lord or not, no one would refuse the delightful spoils once the city was taken.
It was not a mere wall, but a door preventing them from getting their hands on money and women.
Blood and fire burst forth, the sounds of slaughter resounded to the skies.
Yet at the rear of the formation, a starkly different atmosphere emerged. More and more scattered bandits, who had been looting and burning in the city, fled back in terror, scrambling in a pitiful state. Darkness seemed like a massive, unseen beast, its jaws opened wide, devouring human lives.
Chief Luo dragged his crescent halberd in his right hand, an expression of faint excitement on his face, striding toward the expanding darkness.
The killing aura was growing closer.
The intense scent of blood made everyone tremble.
Chief Luo halted, raised the crescent halberd, and bared a bloodthirsty grin.
Darkness now reached the street before him, leaving only the torches behind him still casting bright light.
The first thing that emerged from the deep shadows was a pair of cloth shoes, ordinary in style, stepping from within the darkness where everyone else was desperately fleeing.
——They were not stained by dust or blood.
Even their owner did not walk quickly.
Like a spring breeze, petals dancing at home, walking idly along.
Sleeves fluttered slightly, and his right hand rested behind him, his attire and demeanor like that of a carefree recluse.
Under the torchlight, the man raised his gaze, bright as moonlight, with a subtle glow that seemed profound.
This moment of illusion remained in the eyes of the Holy Lotus Sect members. Then came a sudden storm, a blur of motion, a figure streaking like a rainbow. From the darkness came a sword strike like thunder.
“Clang.”
The crescent halberd clashed with the Purple-Edged Sword.
There was no verbal exchange, no extra probing. Chief Luo pounced the instant he glimpsed Meng Qi, unleashing his strength at full force.
When short weapons met, the sharp crash erupted, and the sudden explosion of energy swept away any obstacles. Even those from the Holy Lotus Sect ten zhang away were knocked backward, stumbling.
Sand and stones whirled, blinding onlookers.
To the rebel soldiers, it looked as though a demon had raised a sandstorm, swallowing Chief Luo within it.
“A demon is here!”
Who else could have such a face, and still walk calmly in these times, if not a fiend or evil spirit?
They shouted in horror, stampeding forward.
The Holy Lotus Sect men realized the crisis, roaring orders: “Seize him at once! No running around!”
Ahead lay a street shrouded in darkness.
Purple sword radiance dazzled, extending several feet beyond the blade’s tip. The graceful, gorgeous arc traced by the blade grew sharper with each strike. It was like fangs and claws of a fierce beast, and whenever it caught a touch of blood, the Holy Lotus Sect followers felt their hearts pound, knowing Chief Luo was wounded.
“Hahaha, come again!”
Chief Luo let out a wild laugh. His crescent halberd moved faster, now mingled with a serpentine gleam. The stone walls of both sides crumbled.
The boundless power unleashed by their energy was tightly confined within this narrow space. The smaller its range, the more destruction fell where sword light and halberd swept past. In an instant, the ground split three feet deep, and the alley’s walls bent like cloth under tremendous force. Houses swayed on the verge of collapse.
They were already close to the inner city, where only wealthy families resided. When the Tianshou King’s army approached, those who had originally lived there moved into the inner city, seeking safety behind another wall. They left large empty houses and a few servants behind.
After the city’s fall, those servants were terrified; hearing such clamor, they fled in panic.
“Boom!” The crescent halberd smashed the rooftop, and the snake-like arc swept through the courtyard trees.
The Purple-Edged Sword, imbued with true energy, pierced stone walls like breaking through paper.
No matter what blocked the way—a thirty-year-old locust tree, for instance—its bark and splintered wood sprayed out like a torrential downpour.
One of the Holy Lotus Sect Protectors let out a wail, stumbling back several steps. Blood gushed from his lower leg, a shard of bark pinned there like a throwing knife.
Horrified, everyone retreated, carrying their torches. With them went the light, leaving the street in near-total darkness.
The Holy Lotus Sect Protector left behind gritted his teeth, ignoring the pain in his leg as he tried to stand. Suddenly, a strange dread seized him, and a powerful force yanked him into the deeper darkness.
——He struggled to grasp the stones on the ground, his nails tearing off.
His scream was abruptly cut short. Those who looked on saw only stones stained with blood. The Protector had already been dragged into the dark.
“What is going on?”
“Someone’s hiding in the darkness!”
Someone instantly mustered the courage, stretched the torch forward, and shouted angrily, “Stop pretending to be ghosts and come out!”
These wicked rogues from the martial world cursed a few times to bolster their own nerve, then glanced at one another. Back-to-back, they cautiously took a few steps forward.
Chief Luo was still locked in fierce combat with Meng Qi, both using brutal techniques. Anyone lacking sufficient skill or internal strength who tried to watch closely would only become dizzy. All they could do was struggle to protect themselves, forming a formation to probe the unknown foe lurking in the darkness.
Suddenly, it felt as though a cool breeze had swept across the flat ground.
Everyone saw a shadow dart out at an angle. The few men standing back-to-back and probing into the darkness froze abruptly, their heads instantly severed. Blood spewed forth as their bodies wavered, and the torches fell to the ground.
Before they could even feel terror, the cool wind had already reached them.
There was no killing intent, resembling autumn winds in the wilderness or a clear spring in the forest—yet whoever it touched died.
The rear ranks descended into utter chaos. No one could control the panicked rebel soldiers fleeing in fear. At the same time, the Holy Maidens and Protectors of the Holy Lotus Sect realized this was the unnamed master who had displayed a blade technique like that of a demonic spirit in Huaxian a few days before, rescuing the assassin. Last time, they had escaped death. This time, they had no such luck.
Wherever the blade passed, droplets of blood splattered, and all that met the eye were severed limbs.
Even those in the Holy Lotus Sect with slightly higher martial skill chose not to block but to run, so none survived three moves under the blade without an edge.
Screams and a heavy stench of blood lingered by their noses and ears.
Mo Li let out a quiet sigh, reversed his grip to sheathe his blade, and retreated back into the darkness.
——He had never killed like this before.
The fact was, a miracle doctor could save a single life in an instant, but could kill over a dozen people.
He used the same hands that saved lives to hold a killing blade. Although his heart was uneasy, Mo Li’s hands did not hesitate.
Sensing Meng Qi’s aura, Mo Li guessed he had been influenced by the other man. But so what? Even if he could not see the other’s face at that moment, nor hear his voice, Mo Li felt Meng Qi’s mighty sword presence all the more clearly.
That unwavering will, unleashed along with the sword.
For dozens of years, it had secured peace under heaven, only to fade after Chu’s fall. Now it resurfaced.
…Though Emperor Yongchen was powerless though willing, Fengxing Pavilion’s Qiu Jing lacked sufficient drive, and Cheng Jingchuan possessed both power and ambition, how their actions would benefit or harm the world remained unknown. Perhaps the world would remain troubled and full of hardship.
Yet one could assert that the Holy Lotus Sect, the Tianshou King’s rebel army, the remnants of Xiliang, and even the likes of the Si Family Fortress of Qiuling County were those who schemed for personal gain and left endless calamities. Without them, the world might not necessarily improve, but with them, it surely worsens.
“Hence, when fate did not come, I demanded it in its stead!”
Meng Qi’s eyes were cold, brimming with murderous intent, regarding his foe as a corpse.
He gathered more power in his palm, and with the sword drawing upon heaven and earth’s energy, he struck like thunder, forcing the crescent halberd to swerve aside.
Chief Luo’s expression changed abruptly. He retreated over ten paces without dispersing the force. Blood surged in his chest, and he pressed his left hand against the wall to steady himself.
His residual strength reverberated. With a crash, fissures spread along the wall under Chief Luo’s left palm, and it collapsed in an instant.
Chief Luo cursed inwardly. How could someone grow stronger the longer they fought, their sword intent ever more potent? Today truly seemed haunted!
His mind filled with doubts, he felt the urge to flee.
He darted inside a house. The place was spacious with lavish furnishings, obviously belonging to someone wealthy or noble.
A supreme master could conceal all traces in a flash, revealing nothing. Chief Luo selected a prime location, using his internal energy to soothe his wounds while silently plotting revenge, determined to teach this arrogant foe a lesson.
Inside, it was pitch-dark, impossible to see one’s own hand.
Suddenly, a sword pierced the embroidered screen. Thousands of tough silk threads shredded as though they were paper, and the crescent halberd narrowly managed to hook onto the screen’s edge with its curved tip.
As silhouettes crisscrossed, Chief Luo struck with explosive power. His left palm came chopping down while both legs kicked in succession, blades emerging at the toes of his boots.
Meng Qi’s timing was impeccable, leaping upward just then. He landed on Chief Luo’s boot mid-kick, stomping him downward a notch. Then, gripping his sword firmly in his right hand, he yanked it hard, crashing through the rear wall.
Chief Luo wore a sneer. His ambush had failed, and he had been forced out of hiding, but his opponent still could not defeat him.
Both the sword and the crescent halberd remained locked together, and the situation favoured Chief Luo. After all, it was Meng Qi’s back that impacted the wall, leaving Chief Luo unhurt, and his fierce palm strike was still chasing Meng Qi.
Too naive, Chief Luo thought. If they had simply fought sword against sword or tested their internal strength, he might not have been able to match Meng Qi.
As momentum peaked, Meng Qi was in midair, apparently with no escape. Another low wall was smashed apart. Amid flying sand and stones, Meng Qi abruptly rose higher, as though someone had scooped him aside. Chief Luo’s palm struck empty air and crashed upon the remains of that half-broken wall. With his old strength spent and new force not yet gathered, sparks and lightning flared when the blade took his life, piercing Chief Luo’s heart.
“This… Impossible…”
Chief Luo looked stunned. Under such all-out combat, how could someone remain silent and hidden close by, even able to shove Meng Qi aside without injuring him in the least? Did that not prove the two of them trusted each other absolutely, even allowing their internal energies to merge flawlessly without conflict?
A supreme master’s protective aura was no trifling matter.
Autumn leaves whirled and fell, sand and dust settled.
Meng Qi landed soundlessly, his sword-bearing right hand resting behind him, standing wordlessly behind Chief Luo.
Chief Luo still gazed in disbelief at Mo Li, who stood before him holding a knife. His body swayed, and blood trickled from his mouth and nose.
Mo Li’s brows furrowed slightly. He reversed his blade in a swift motion and retreated like a drifting shadow.
It was an exceedingly fast, precise twist-and-withdraw slash.
Chief Luo toppled forward in defeat.
That strike had angled through the ribs, twisting as it pierced, flawlessly puncturing the heart.
So precise, Chief Luo nearly believed the other must have slaughtered thousands to attain such flawless muscle memory. After all, he was neither lying down nor standing motionless. The actual exchange lasted barely the blink of an eye. At the moment Meng Qi was shoved away, there was hardly time to see anything clearly—only that single strike.
“You… you…”
No matter how profound one’s martial arts, they could not survive a shredded heart.
Chief Luo’s breath died away, limbs convulsing, and no one knew what he wanted to say.
“If we battled another half hour, I would still have had a chance to kill you with a single sword,” Meng Qi said as he approached calmly. “But I have A-Li. I did not want to spend the effort.”
Chief Luo’s features twisted in resentment, and his eyes brimmed with unwillingness. At last, he let out a final breath and moved no more.
He, who wished to tread over mountains of corpses to reign over all, became nothing more than another corpse in the endless carnage.
