Ever-changing - Part 1
Wang Wenfang's entire left arm was severed.
Li Letian's iron ring was glowing red-hot; he took it off and put it back inside his clothes. Xin Ruien stood close to him, completely bewildered by what had just happened—Wang Wenfang had suddenly severed his own arm.
Large beads of sweat trickled down Wang Wenfang's deeply lined face.
Yes, he had lived too comfortably, so comfortably that he had forgotten some things. Wang Wenfang knew about the hidden weapon fired from the ring, the "martial needle" of Shigulin.
If Wang Wenfang hadn't reacted quickly and twisted his body to the maximum extent, the silver needle in the ring would have surely pierced his neck. He would probably be a corpse by now. Wang Wenfang grinned, "Truly a bastard from Shigulin."
At this moment, Liu Mengde, who was engaged in a fierce battle with Ling Guang and Du Taibai, also used his sword to send the two back, and entered a temporary stalemate.
The force of the blow to Liu Mengde's back hadn't subsided. He clutched his chest and coughed up another mouthful of blood. He angrily demanded, "Fourth Brother, what do you want to do!"
"Congratulations! Congratulations!" Nana clapped her hands. "After such a fierce battle, no one died. That's wonderful!"
Jia Dongye was holding the "Typhoon" sword in his hand. Beside him were the five precious swords that Zhao Zheng was so proud of. And Zhao Zheng himself lay lying not far away.
"Who exactly are you, and what do you want?" Jia Dongye sized up the two uninvited guests in front of the mountain path.
“Who we are is not important,” Xiang Wu replied. “We are here to congratulate Senior Sword Demon. Although you did not obtain ‘Black Wind,’ you obtained ‘Typhoon,’ which is more suitable for you.”
“Nonsense,” Jia Dongye immediately denied.
"Whether it's nonsense or not, you don't need to hear what I have to say." Nana smiled. "Let's hear what Prime Minister Zhao has to say."
Jia Dongye's pupils contracted, and he glanced sideways to see Zhao Zheng propping himself up on one side with his arm. Jia Dongye never expected that his full-force palm strike would still be insufficient to kill the weakened Zhao Zheng.
"The skills of the Hall of Longevity are truly remarkable; even in his condition, the Prime Minister is still clinging to life," Xiang Wu exclaimed in admiration.
"You untrustworthy old scoundrel!" Zhao Zheng glared angrily. Although he knew he was being used as a pawn, he still revealed the truth about Wang Zimei's death. "That's right. Wang Zimei was killed by Jia Dongye and my Changsheng Palace. Both Wang Zimei's hiding place and sword techniques were provided by Jia Dongye. The target was that 'Black Wind' sword."
"It was you." Liu Mengde frowned. "You actually colluded with outsiders to kill your third brother."
"Brother, my days are numbered." Jia Dongye's face regained its composure. "For decades, I have been unable to break through. I must use the Demonic Sword to awaken my inner demons. By overcoming these demons, I may be able to glimpse the realm of immortals before I die."
“You have harmed your fellow disciples. Miss will not let you get away with this.”
"Enough." Jia Dongye interrupted Liu Mengde. "It's all your fault for being too old-fashioned. That girl has been gone for many years, but you insist on adhering to the rules she left behind. It was because you insisted on not letting Third Brother hand over the 'Black Wind' sword to me that he died."
“And you,” Jia Dongye turned to Zhao Zheng, “you broke your promise first, you didn’t hand over the ‘Black Wind’ sword to me. So you deserve to die. But I should also thank you for bringing me ‘Typhoon’.”
Ignoring the pain in his arm, Wang Wenfang forced out a sentence through gritted teeth: "You're crazy."
"Are you content to spend your whole lives without ever reaching her level?" Jia Dongye's sharp gaze swept over his two fellow disciples who had spent decades with him in Peach Blossom Spring. "I'm not content. I must surpass her level. We've been afraid of her our whole lives. She told us to stay in Peach Blossom Spring, but you've seen it yourselves. We've been out for so long, and nothing has happened."
"The young lady instructed us to keep the treacherous swords that were compatible with each other, precisely because she feared that one of us might harbor evil thoughts and fall into the demonic path. You've forgotten all of this."
“I haven’t forgotten. It was all her trickery, designed to prevent us from breaking through our limits.” Jia Dongye waved his hand. “In my life, I’ve tried every method, but I still can’t break through. If there is a way to transform, it must lie within the inner demons.”
"I think you've been possessed by a demon!" Liu Mengde said, somewhat indignant and secretly agitated.
Jia Dongye ignored Liu Mengde and turned to Lin Zhenna: "Were you the ones in Peach Blossom Spring that day?"
"It was us, that's right."
Jia Dongye pondered for a moment, then revealed a strange smile. "I don't want to get involved in this mess either. Let's go our separate ways." He glanced back at Liu Mengde and Wang Wenfang, who were now separated on two separate battlefields, and said, "I won't interfere with what you want to do next."
On the mountaintop, six young men, each with their own background and methods, stared intently at Wang Wenfang, who had lost an arm, and Liu Mengde, who was injured.
Liu Mengde understood that now was no longer the time to hold back.
To accomplish everything in one battle.
"The scholar's study!" Liu Mengde pointed his sword at the sky.
Wang Wenfang immediately understood his intention and plunged the longsword into the ground.
"Oh no!" Jia Dongye noticed the commotion and turned around in a panic, exposing his back completely to Lin Zhenna and Xiang Wu.
The entire mountaintop's stone surface cracked open in an instant. Flames, accompanied by an explosion, shot out from the cracks and soared upwards.
Everyone looked up at the only way out, where the Milky Way descended.
At the summit of Yunxia Peak, there is neither land nor sky.
This is a world of sword intent. Half is fire, half is sea.
Li Letian and Xin Ruien stared at each other for half a second before Li Letian sent her and the Shattered Star Sword flying with a single palm strike. The "swarm of fish" carried the girl towards the flames.
The burning torrent flows down from the summit of Yunxia Peak. Nothing grows in its path, and the boulders blocking the way become the only small islands in this ocean.
Mist rose. Soon, the entire Cloud Peak disappeared from sight.
*
"Surrounded by mountains on all sides and two rivers, a pool of stars and moon shines on the lonely pavilion." Pei Jiangxi read the words on the pavilion pillars with a sense of boredom.
Not far from the Four Corner Pavilion, three strong horses were standing under a Chinese tallow tree, their reins not even tied to the trunk.
On the uphill mountain path, two footsteps, one fast and one slow, could be heard. The two people were of different heights.
The shorter people walked in front, taking quicker steps. The taller, more robust figures followed closely behind, but at a slower pace.
When the two emerged from the shadows of the woods into the starlight, Pei Jiangxi finally saw their disheveled appearance. Lin Zhenna and Xiang Wu were soaked through, their hair and clothes dripping wet. Their clothes, however, bore obvious burn marks, charred and tattered beyond recognition.
"Are you alright?"
"We haven't found Xin Ruien." Xiang Wu wrinkled his nose. "Li Letian and Su Yishan have already been rescued."
"I'm asking you guys." Pei Jiangxi used her sleeve to wipe the water droplets from Lin Zhenna's cheek and asked, "Are you alright?"
"fine."
“It will take some time to get to the inn,” Pei Jiangxi said, looking at Lin Zhenna, whose lips were pale. “Until then, I’ll have to trouble you to hold on.”
*
At the summit of Yunxia Peak, mist swirls. The mountaintop has been leveled, and neither the sloping rocks nor the ancient pine trees remain.
In the white mist, two figures sat cross-legged.
"I've tried my best to channel my sword intent into the fourth brother, but unfortunately he still managed to escape." Liu Mengde circulated his true energy along the meridians throughout his body. He should be able to recover from his numb state in about fifteen minutes.
"But we also dealt him a heavy blow, which gave us time to recover. We can then plan for the long term."
"The boy from Shigulin was rescued by that man and woman."
Wang Wenfang pondered for a moment and said, "I think they are using the swordsmanship of the Misty Rain Pavilion."
Liu Mengde was about to say something when he saw a person get up from the ground. The person glanced in the direction of Liu Mengde and Wang Wenfang, then walked in another direction.
"Damn it, how did this person dodge the attack from the center of the domain?" Wang Wenfang's eyes twitched, and he immediately accelerated the circulation of his internal energy.
"Elephant jade," someone called out; it was Du Bai's voice.
The person standing stopped and looked towards the direction from which the sound came. The one who had acted first was Xiang Yu, the one who had been knocked away by Jia Dongye at the beginning!
No one knows how he survived in that hell of water and fire.
"Chief," Xiang Yu's voice sounded tired.
Du Taibai breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing Xiang Yu's response; he was completely immobilized. Although he didn't know how Xiang Yu had done it, he had indeed moved. In other words, Du Taibai now held absolute initiative.
“Kill those two old men first,” Du Taibai’s voice was weak, but the urgency in his words was still discernible. “Don’t let them recover.”
Xiang Yu bent down and picked up the sword at his feet. It was Zhao Zheng's sword.
He walked a short distance in the opposite direction from Liu and Wang, then swung his sword at the ground. A sound of flesh and bone being cleaved rang out.
Xiang Yu flicked his sword and began to walk back. As the distance shortened, his appearance gradually became clearer in everyone's eyes.
It was a bronze figure entirely golden, covered in countless slash marks. As Xiang Yu walked, golden powder continuously fell off.
“It’s the lost ‘Medicine Master’s Golden Body’ of Xinyuan Temple.” Liu Mengde said with a solemn expression. “How could this Beggar Clan member know Xinyuan Temple’s secret technique?”
Xiang Yu knelt down beside Du Taibai and asked, "Are you alright, Sect Leader?"
"I can't move for a while," Du Taibai nodded and said, "Who did you just kill?"
“It’s Zhao Zheng, the gang leader,” Xiang Yu replied.
"Excellent!" Du Taibai said happily. "We must not let a single person on the mountaintop escape today. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for our Beggars' Sect."
"I understand." Xiang Yu accepted the order and stood up.
Du Taibai had never felt so open-minded; he could almost see the future of the Beggars' Sect commanding the world and entering the imperial court.
He did not disgrace his master's name. It was none other than Du Taibai who led the Beggars' Sect to unprecedented heights. Centuries and millennia from now, the descendants of the Beggars' Sect will still recite his name.
Du Taibai felt a warm current in his hand; his body was about to recover. At least, that's what he thought for that instant.
Du Taibai's breathing became rapid, and his eyelids grew heavy.
Xiang Yu has not left yet.
"What are you still doing here? If those two old men from Peach Blossom Spring recover, we're doomed." Du Taibai wanted to rebuke Xiangyu like this, but he could no longer speak. His voice only whimpered and lingered in his throat.
"Eh, that's strange." Du Taibai lowered his head.
The jade-like longsword pierced his heart, and hot blood flowed down his arm and palm, pooling on the ground.
"Let's make a deal, seniors," Xiang Yu said coldly. "What Zhao Zheng gives, my Beggars' Sect can give as well."
The sound of hurried footsteps echoed along the path leading to the summit.
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