Chapter 98 The Number One Under Heaven
(superior)
Bian Yi has never forgotten that he is a half-immortal, nor has he ever dared to forget it.
That almost miraculous power remained within her, and from that day on, Bian Yi paid little attention to her wounds. Because no matter how much she struggled, she would only feel pain, but it was difficult for her to die. The vast, ocean-like spring breeze and gentle rain would heal her, even if she consciously allowed those wounds to remain on her body for a longer time.
Bian Yi couldn't remember the last time she saw her face in the mirror; perhaps it was last year, perhaps many years ago. The eternal youth that everyone dreams of is actually a nightmare and a curse, forever leaving her on that day when she was twenty-two.
After the destruction of Qingluan Medicine Valley, Bian Yi experienced a bizarre and fantastical period of time, the details of which she could not recall. She traveled to many places, saved many people, and inexplicably ended up in Jiangjin Realm, where she temporarily settled.
There seemed to be happy moments, but they were all fleeting. She often stared blankly at the moon, feeling that she was just an empty shell, her soul long since withered.
No one told her how to get out of this predicament. But she knew that although her strength was no match for Qin Ruoliu, who was already a half-immortal, not everyone in Yulin City was like that.
I have no fellow disciples left, so why... are your disciples still alive and well? Why? Why?
Why can't I take revenge? Why can't I let you taste this bitterness too?
Once such a thought arises, it will burn in every deserted night, and the flame will rise higher with every gust of wind, even though Bian Yi tells himself every time that he cannot do this, that this is not what the people of Qingluan Medicine Valley should do.
The moment when hatred can no longer be contained is like a river bursting its banks, a tsunami, or a single spark igniting a forest—no one can stop it.
Bian Yi, alone with his sword, stormed Yulin City.
Five days and five nights—it wasn't just a battle between her and Qin Ruoliu, but also a tragedy for Yulin City, where a hundred people died by her sword.
Although she was seriously injured and fell into a pool of blood in the end, it was hard to deny the exhilaration in her heart; those emptinesses could be filled with the flesh and blood of others.
"Why...why did you do this? Why did you..." Bian Yi looked at Qin Ruoliu and asked.
Qin Ruoliu's knife stopped at Bian Yi's side of the neck. She was panting heavily, and the hatred in her eyes was impossible to hide. It seemed that she would tear Bian Yi to pieces in the next second, but suddenly she revealed a strange smile.
"Me? Actually, I'm not the mastermind. Even if you kill me, it won't make a difference."
Qin Ruoliu's voice suddenly became shrill, as if it were laced with thick blood.
"But you'll never know who it is!"
"Besides, what's the difference between you and me now, Bian Yi?"
Bian Yi couldn't remember what happened after Qin Ruoliu's questioning, but she must have snapped out of it in an instant, gotten up, and fled in panic. Qin Ruoliu didn't even stop her.
She was badly injured, but she still forced herself to return to Jiangjin Realm. Bian Yi often didn't know what she was thinking. For example, she didn't know why she wanted to stay here even though she was on her last breath, but she didn't go to find the children she had taken in. She just wanted to find a place to die alone.
That was her only chance to die. She curled up in her little herb garden and thought, it would be good to die like this. She would become soil, mud, and part of these herbs, her body covered with herbs.
Perhaps this can lessen her sins somewhat.
But as if by some cruel twist of fate, just as she was drifting off to sleep, she suddenly heard footsteps approaching, followed by an annoying voice.
"I've heard you're a good doctor?"
"I'm sorry, I'm dying. Please find someone else." Bian Yi opened her eyes with difficulty. Through her blurry vision, she saw an old Taoist priest holding a baby in his arms. The baby looked to be only one or two years old and seemed to be congenitally weak and very thin.
She probably wouldn't live past three years old. Bian Yi felt a pang of pity. This kind of disease was difficult to cure with medicine; it could only be treated with gentle, nurturing care or by using expensive medicinal herbs. But after thinking about it, she closed her eyes again, as if in a fit of pique.
She's about to die herself, why should she care about so much?
But the child suddenly cried out loudly. She stretched out her small hand, grabbed the thing in front of the Taoist priest's chest, and threw it out, which hit Bian Yi on the head.
"You'd be better off finding another doctor."
Bian Yi had no choice but to open his eyes, lift the porcelain bottle, and return it to the Taoist priest.
But before the Taoist priest could put the porcelain bottle back into his arms, the girl started crying again, and with a swipe of her small fist, she pushed the bottle away once more.
"Your Highness...that is..."
The old Taoist priest seemed hesitant. He picked up the porcelain bottle several times, but the child knocked it away each time, and it landed right in front of Bian Yi. Bian Yi picked it up twice, and in the end, he found it funny. Why was it so difficult for him to even want to die?
"Fine, it's yours. You weren't meant to die, and neither was Your Highness."
The old Taoist priest didn't pick up the porcelain bottle again, and looked at the still bewildered Bian Yi and said...
"This is a secret medicine that should be able to save your life. But it's not free. I can't make the decision for her. I'll tell you myself when she grows up."
Miraculously, when Bian Yi grasped the porcelain bottle, the child quieted down and stopped making noise.
An infant, seemingly knowing his days were numbered, struggled desperately to survive, inexplicably giving Bian Yi a chance to live.
“…Okay.” Bian Yi replied weakly. She didn’t rush to put the medicine in her mouth, but instead lay down in the mud and asked, “What’s your name?”
"The blue phoenix carries a branch to observe, but Chu has no fixed abode."
"What's this child's name?" Bian Yi asked again.
I can't tell you yet.
The old Taoist priest shook his head, but then lifted the girl high above his head, letting her small body bask in the sunlight. He laughed with great pride, the lines on his face clearly visible, and said...
"But she will surely be a wise ruler, and a benevolent one at that. She will be loved and respected in life, and her name will be remembered for generations to come."
Bian Yi unwittingly missed her last chance to die. While taking the secret medicine and waiting for it to take effect, she suddenly discovered that the ninth layer of internal energy barrier that she had been unable to break through for many years had actually disappeared.
She suddenly understood that she must have reached the legendary half-immortal realm, and that the real reason she was able to fight Qin Ruoliu to a standstill was this.
This is the true path to becoming a demigod. No wonder I could only stay at the ninth level no matter how hard I tried back then.
Bian Yi wasn't very surprised, just felt utterly exhausted. It was as if her life had become a mess since she was seventeen, like a headless fly bumping around aimlessly.
Until she committed a colossal mistake, the rest of her life was destined to be spent atonement; there was no other way.
...
Seventeen years later, when faced with the same question again, Bian Yi still couldn't answer. She couldn't explain what the difference was between a half-immortal and a half-immortal, she couldn't convince herself that hardship had led to the tragic deaths of innocent people, and she couldn't find answers from others.
Bian Yi even had the urge to run away again, but this time she didn't move an inch. Her trembling hand gripped the Dust-Removing Sword at her waist.
“Bian Yi, I didn’t want to treat you like this. I originally wanted you to never know about this. But that good-for-nothing Wei Yun’e just wouldn’t listen, and for some reason, a retainer named A Ye insisted on digging into the past and bringing up all these old, rotten things.”
"As you can see, I've already advanced to the level of a half-immortal. Fighting me would only result in a lose-lose situation. So... it's better to forget about it."
Wang Yi stretched out her hand, with thousands of candles behind her. She stood in the center of the entire pagoda, like a deity bestowing kindness. The skin on her hands was visibly aged, but her hoarse voice remained unchanged.
“Come back, Bian Yi, come back to my side and do things for me.”
"The likes of Lai, Southern Qi, and Northern Yan are nothing to speak of... I will rule the world in the blink of an eye, seize control of the universe, and dominate its rise and fall. This vast land will ultimately submit to me as its master; this is the destiny ordained by Heaven!"
"Then, we can still do what we used to do."
...
What a ridiculous statement. Bian Yi traced the fingertips of the outstretched hand upwards, her gaze sweeping over Wang Yi's arm, chest, neck... finally settling on her hypocritical face.
No matter how she observed, she couldn't find any trace of the past on that face. Even she herself had long since lost all connection to that seventeen-year-old boy.
How can they go back to how they were before?
Bian Yi took a deep breath, and the veins on the back of his hand, which was gripping the Dust Sword, bulged.
For a long time, hatred had been the most intense emotion in Bian Yi's heart. She was controlled and manipulated by this thing, simply because she could not find anyone she hated, nor could she find a way to take revenge.
But at this moment, hatred, which had never been clear before, turned into a sharp blade, pointing directly at the person in front of him.
The sword Liao Chen was instantly drawn under the moonlight, its countless silver threads condensing into a sharp blade. Bian Yi no longer bothered to conceal his half-immortal strength, allowing his vast and boundless inner force to sweep across the entire Treasure Hall. All the candles in the hall seemed to sense the danger, trembling and extinguishing most of them in fear.
Instantly, the entire Treasure Hall became shrouded in a daze, with two extremely powerful forces secretly spreading in the air until they collided and stood in opposition within the hall.
Bian Yi looked at Wang Yi, speaking each word clearly.
“I never hoped I was a demigod, but this time, I’m glad I am, and I still have the chance to fight you.”
If she were to die, Bian Yi dared not imagine the fate of these people and these events.
The gleaming silver blade pointed at Wang Yi, at her former senior sister, at the person she once considered her closest relative.
"We can't go back to the past."
"Oh……"
Wang Yi smiled and shook her head. She stepped forward, facing the cold light of the sword blade, until the sword was only a palm's distance from her chest before she stopped.
Don't rush to answer.
She snapped her fingers, and the last flickering candle went out.
Suddenly, an extremely violent and powerful internal force rippled out from outside the Treasure Hall, rolling in from behind Bian Yi. Her eyes sharpened, and she swung her Dust Sword in a backhand motion. In an instant, the silver sword light collided with the powerful internal force that shattered the bricks in the wall, creating a thunderous sound accompanied by dust billowing into the air like a sandstorm.
Immediately afterwards, dozens more extremely brutal, bright red blade energies swept over, like bloodstains tearing through the night. This time, Bian Yi did not take the blow head-on, but nimbly dodged them, letting the blade smash the entire Duobao Hall to pieces, even slicing off one of the Guanyin statue's arms.
"Gucheng Sword Technique..."
Bian Yi frowned. She should be the most familiar person in the world with this kind of internal energy cultivation technique. After all, for five days and five nights, this was what she saw, along with a knife called Shouyu.
It's not surprising that Qin Ruoliu would be here, after all, Wang Yi was the mastermind who used Qin Ruoliu as a weapon to destroy the Azure Phoenix Medicine Valley, thus enabling him to become a half-immortal.
But why was Qin Ruoli still under Wang Yi's control even after becoming a demigod? Bian Yi couldn't understand it at all.
Wang Yi stood calmly with her hands behind her back. Bian Yi dared not take a step closer to her. When he realized that he was surrounded from behind and in front, he spun to the right, stepped onto the wall with one foot, and lightly placed the other foot on the candlestick on the wall, almost as if he were suspended in mid-air.
She flipped in the air and landed gently.
As expected, the dust settled, and a figure as red as flames slowly emerged from it. But Qin Ruoliu's gaze was blank, like a puppet on strings, seemingly completely unaware of what she was doing. She simply walked slowly toward Wang Yi, finally standing beside her with her head bowed.
If Qin Ruoliu was once the undisputed number one swordsman in the world, now Bian Yi felt that she should be called the number one swordsman in the world, because she was so well polished and easy to use.
Wang Yi and Qin Ruoliu stood to one side, their combined inner strength instantly making Bian Yi appear somewhat frail and unsteady. Wang Yi reached out to Bian Yi once more, and for the last time, and whispered.
"I'll ask you one more time, are you really not coming back to me?"
(Down)
"Is it the Wuma family's secret technique of 'Haunting'? You... are from the Wuma family?"
No wonder Cheng Ye inquired about the mother vermin in his letter to her. Bian Yi's gaze fell on Qin Ruoliu's heart, and a hint of mockery unconsciously crept into her eyes. She undoubtedly hated Qin Ruoliu, but suddenly felt a moment of pity for the two of them being played by the same person for so many years.
She suddenly remembered something else: there were many theories about why the Wuma family withdrew from the martial world, one of which was that the family's secret treasure, the Mother Worm, had been stolen. Without their support, they naturally could no longer stir up trouble in the martial world as before.
"The reason the Wuma family withdrew from the martial world... is it because you stole the Mother Worm?"
"That was a long time ago, when I was only... a teenager? I can't remember."
Wang Yi chuckled softly and shook her head. She didn't miss her past, when she was weak. To her, youth only meant powerlessness. She was extremely satisfied with her present self, and she knew that she would be remembered when she became the ruler of the world.
"You're right. It's all thanks to Chen Shudong's kind heart that he took me in. If you're truly eager to learn, Qingluan Medicine Valley doesn't care where you come from."
"You dare mention Master's name? What gives you the right?"
When Bian Yi heard Chen Shudong's name, the grief and anger that she had been suppressing resurfaced and burned like a sea of fire in her heart.
The thin, cicada-wing-like Liaochen Sword was infused with immense internal force. Bian Yi raised her hand and unleashed several sword strikes towards the spot where the two half-immortals stood. The silver crescent moon was wrapped in overwhelming killing intent as she cried out in pain.
"Where is your sincerity even a little bit? Where is your sincerity even a little bit!"
"The person I admire most in my life is Chen Shudong, and this is my most sincere opinion."
Wang Yi suppressed his smile, flipped his hand, and picked up the golden axe.
"Unfortunately, I gave her a chance to voluntarily hand over the method to become a demigod, but she refused."
In an instant, the axe flashed with golden light to meet the silver moon. The moment they collided, huge ripples spread out, but it was clear that the silver moon had the upper hand. Bian Yi remained motionless, with only her clothes fluttering. Wang Yi was forced to take a few steps back, his eyes immediately filled with gloom.
"As expected of the young valley master personally chosen by Chen Shudong, she truly resembles her the most..."
Wang Yi raised her hand and pressed it against her chest, where something was throbbing wildly. The veins under her collar grew rapidly, climbing up her jawline and then quickly covering half of her face, like intertwined tree roots beneath the soil, utterly terrifying.
Behind her, Qin Ruoliu suddenly looked extremely pained, clutching her head and letting out a harsh, hoarse cry. Qin Ruoliu picked up the Jade-Guarding Blade and charged straight at Bian Yi. At the same time, Wang Yi raised her axe and smashed it hard against the wall of the Treasure Hall, sneering.
"Equally stubborn, equally... reckless."
Swords clashed, and the earth shook.
This time, however, the Liaochen Sword and the Shouyu Blade clashed violently. Bian Yi looked closely at Qin Ruoliu's pained yet unconscious face and felt that the two of them were both hateful and pathetic.
Instead of confronting them head-on, Wang Yi placed his hand on his chest, controlling Qin Ruoliu as she fought against Bian Yi.
Qin Ruoliu gripped the hilt of the sword, her knuckles suddenly exerting force. The next instant, the Jade-Slaying Blade was drawn, a crimson streak tearing through the twilight, accompanied by a piercing whistling sound, slashing towards Bian Yi at the waist. The swordsman's figure blurred before the blade touched his body, his white robe turning into wisps of smoke as he drifted backward. The blade narrowly missed, only slicing off a few fluttering pieces of his clothing.
But Bian Yi's retreat was not yet over. With a light touch of his toes on the ground, he used the momentum to propel himself back. The Liao Chen Sword had been drawn at some point, its tip trembling, a cold star flashing within it. Its speed surpassed even his previous retreat, thrusting straight at Qin Ruoliu's center. Qin Ruoliu immediately parried with her own blade. The sword clashed, producing a deafeningly sharp sound, sparks flying.
The two clashed briefly, then immediately resumed their battle. The flashing blades swept across the battlefield, their shadows intricate and relentless.
The clanging of metal was as dense as a sudden rainstorm. Amidst the crisscrossing figures, only the cold glint of weapons and fragments of clothing fluttered in the inky darkness.
At this moment, the two were moving so fast that they were invisible to ordinary people. The Guanyin statue in the main hall had already had its head cut off and was nowhere to be seen.
Bian Yi didn't use her full strength; she was always wary of Wang Yi joining in. But that person didn't move, or rather, moved very little.
Could it be that controlling the mother beetle requires a considerable amount of energy? Bian Yi suddenly recalled Qin Ruoliu's pained expression.
Yes, this person can still feel pain, which means they haven't completely become a walking corpse. Qin Ruoliu must also be resisting, so...
If Wang Yi's condition worsens, she should have a chance to leave.
The axe slashed past Bian Yi's face and smashed through the wall behind him with a loud bang. Wang Yi beckoned, and the axe paused in mid-air for a moment before instantly flipping back to strike Bian Yi.
Bian Yi suddenly lost the energy to think further. Relying on her lifelong instincts honed by martial arts, her right wrist suddenly sank, not to raise the sword, but to forcefully drop the hilt downwards. The sword tip then flicked upwards, not to stab anyone, but to tap the ground with a "thud."
"You're a piece of trash too. How does it feel to be controlled?"
Bian Yi hung upside down, staring at the pair of blank eyes before her, and laughed in extreme anger. She had been cursing herself for many years, and finally she could curse a fool like herself.
The longsword, slightly bent from touching the ground, used the force of rotation to suddenly release itself like a taut bowstring, silently slashing upwards with a backhand stroke—the purest form of swordplay, without any feints, just an ultimate swing.
The axe returned to Wang Yi's hand, but as the sword approached, she suddenly sensed its sharpness and intense killing intent. A cold sweat broke out on Wang Yi's back.
The sword was originally aimed at Wang Yi's heart, but she was holding an axe to protect her heart. The sword light only cut through her clothes at the front, leaving a gash on her chest and revealing bright red, translucent skin beneath the fabric.
The skin there was extremely strange, with veins clearly visible beneath, and a huge worm was crawling on the side of its heart! Its heart swelled and contracted, and its plump body breathed in response. The sword wound inflicted by Bian Yi was precisely at the location of the worm, piercing through one of its outer shells.
That's the mother beetle... Bian Yi breathed a sigh of relief, but then impatiently blocked Qin Ruoliu's relentless attacks.
The sword didn't pierce deeply enough to kill Wang Yi, but it was enough. The mother beetle seemed startled and began to tremble. Its long legs scrambled haphazardly over Wang Yi's heart, its mouth nibbling at it. Wang Yi's face suddenly turned pale, his features contorted in pain. At that moment, Qin Ruoliu's movements were a beat too slow.
You guessed right! Bian Yi's eyes lit up, and taking advantage of the brief pause, he thrust his sword into Qin Ruoliu's heart without hesitation! The woman froze, blood spilling from her mouth, but her eyes gradually regained their clarity.
Silverfish don't die so easily; if they were forcibly separated from the body, the host would certainly be on the verge of death. But the damage caused was enough for Qin Ruoliu to break free of control tonight.
"Get out of here, don't get in my way."
Bian Yi drew his sword, nudged Qin Ruoliu weakly with his elbow, and said softly.
"Help me save two people. Go in the direction of the Midas Touch internal energy."
The two exchanged a brief glance as they passed each other, then quickly went their separate ways.
Qin Ruoliu suddenly realized that there was actually a sense of recognition and tacit understanding between them, and that they could have had a different relationship.
"OK."
Qin Ruoli nodded and immediately flew into the darkness. She dared not linger. Over the years, she had also realized that when she could gain autonomy, the control would weaken considerably when Wang Yi's condition worsened or when he was further away from the mother beetle.
This is the only chance.
Wang Yi narrowed her eyes. She had rarely lost her temper in recent years, as everything was under her control and nothing unexpected had happened. But today, she suddenly realized that Bian Yi, having been forced into this situation, was still so troublesome, and there was a faint trend that he was about to slip out of her control.
This person is much stronger than she imagined.
"I originally wanted to give you one last chance to make you work for me willingly."
She wouldn't allow it; she wouldn't allow anyone or anything to be outside her control, not even in the slightest.
"Since you don't want it, then let's stop here."
Wang Yi raised her hand and touched the wound in her heart. She didn't plan to care about Qin Ruoliu anymore; after all, it was only temporary that she was out of Qin Ruoliu's control.
These so-called heroes are always so ridiculous. They clearly believe that bowing down to her means a bright future and a new world awaits them.
Bian Yi had just stood there with her sword in hand, intending to focus on dealing with Wang Yi, when she suddenly felt a sharp pain in her chest. Her mind went blank, and her vision blurred. It was as if the frozen ice had cracked open, and something crawled out from under the ice and climbed up to her heart.
It hurts, it hurts, it hurts!
My limbs suddenly went limp and weak, as if needles and threads were threading through my bones, and excruciating pain was emanating from every part of my body, more painful than ever before.
The world spun around her, black and white blurring before her eyes. Bian Yi couldn't remember how she fell to the ground, her body curled up in a ball, hot tears welling in her eyes. As she gradually lost control of her body, Bian Yi panicked for the first time, but she could only grip the Dust Sword tightly, seeking a sliver of peace.
what happened?
"ah……"
Only his throat could still produce a hoarse shout.
"The other juvenile beetle has finally come in handy."
Footsteps echoed in the dilapidated hall, where the headless Guanyin statue witnessed the end of the battle.
What, another... borer? A borer... inside her body?
"What...when..."
“You were picked up by Chen Shudong and taken to Qingluan Medicine Valley when you were four years old. Do you remember how many days and nights I spent with you? It could have happened in any cup of tea or a piece of pastry. I can’t remember exactly when it happened either,” Wang Yi said.
She can't remember; how could she possibly remember clearly?
She only remembered taking a nap in Wang Yi's rocking arms, then waking up with a sore throat, asking where the tea was. After drinking the water, she wanted some snacks, and Wang Yi laughed at her, saying she wanted both.
All of this had sustained her, even allowing her to barely survive until now. But Wang Yi cruelly insisted on telling her that it was all just her conjecture. No one cherished that warmth anymore, except for herself.
Even the slightest bit, even the slightest bit of sincerity.
The sword slipped from his violently trembling palm, and Bian Yi struggled to crawl a few inches on the ground before gripping it again.
"Why...for..."
Why didn't she die that day? That way, all the suffering would be irrelevant to her, and she could leave with her dreams.
"Chen Shudong said you would be the best in the world, and she was right."
The golden hem of her clothes appeared in Bian Yi's blurred vision, and the words from the person above her head, along with the pain in her body, pierced her.
“Originally, you should have been my best sword, but unfortunately, you are too difficult to control.”
The axe fell mercilessly toward her neck.
No, she can't die here.
Bian Yi suddenly rolled over, struggling to turn over, and raised the Dust Sword with his right hand.
The sword of Liaochen shattered like countless stars in the sky.
"...The sword of the fallen is made strong by the heart. When the heart is strong, it can cut through iron like mud and split mountains and rocks; when the heart is chaotic, it is as brittle as glass and will shatter at the touch."
Chen Shudong's serious voice echoed in Bian Yi's memory of a summer day. She solemnly received the sword from her master, and then Chen Shudong's warm hands ruffled her hair. His voice then softened as he spoke.
"Remember that."
“Bianyi”.
But this moment gave Bian Yi a chance to catch her breath. For some reason, she broke free from the bookworm's control, rolled away, and left a trail of blood on the ground.
“Wang Yi… I am different from you… who reach the ninth level after being over fifty years old.”
Bian Yi struggled to his feet, holding the broken Dust Sword in his right hand.
She forcibly cut a piece from her own heart, tearing out the larvae, revealing their white bones.
"...Even your ninth level is probably built up with countless elixirs and miraculous medicines. Your foundation as a half-immortal is unstable and your internal strength is not solid."
Bian Yi raised the half-finished Liaochen sword.
"Senior sister... this is the last time I'll call you senior sister."
Tick-tock, tick-tock.
For some reason, the entire Duobao Hall was damp. The rising temperature melted the hanging ice, which made a crisp sound when it hit the ground, just like after a rain, as if it were springtime.
"As long as I am in this world."
"I am the best in the world."
Author's Note: Bian Yi is the best in the world!!! (Heartbreaking)
(There's only one chapter left in this volume of Broken Blade. The next volume will be the final volume, and it should be a bit shorter like the first volume.)
Just a few words and a thank you.
Thank you all for your collection and support. I know that my article is slow-paced and not a fast-paced story, and it's completely going against the trend (?). But I didn't expect that it would actually pass the VIP line. Thank you all again.
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