Chapter 1 Task Update

[Current task completed, main quest updated]

[Participate in the Cang Ling Sword Debate and survive until the Wu Xiang Demon Lord is killed]

The system prompt sounded at the right time when Feng Bujue and Si Yu killed the Bell Demon. The quest [Defeat “Bell Demon”] was checked off, and then the above quest appeared.

Xiao Tan, Bei Ling, and Jibu knew that Lin Chang had mastered the Tai Xu Wu Xiang Divine Skill, but they hadn't seen Lu Qingning, so they couldn't be sure that Lin Chang was the big villain in this script. They could only guess that he was the Boss based on the words "Wu Xiang" (Formless); while Feng Bujue and Si Yu hadn't heard of the term "Tai Xu Wu Xiang Divine Skill" yet. They only knew that Lin Chang was a powerful antagonist NPC, so they could only guess that Lin Chang might be the Wu Xiang Demon Lord.

Only when the five of them joined together could they truly determine the target of the final quest.

At this moment, it was dusk on the third day in Cang Ling Town.

There were only a few hours left until the full moon. But the two great swordsmen still hadn't appeared.

Xie San, the Nameless Sword, disappeared into thin air yesterday evening; Ye Cheng, the Sword God, was even more straightforward and didn't show up at all.

On this day, without exception, the disciples of the major sects who went from Cang Ling Sect to Tongqiu to inquire about news never returned. Even the Flying Pigeon Gang's pigeons disappeared, and none of them could fly into Cang Ling. The entire town seemed to be sealed off, isolated from the world.

Seeing that the sky was getting dark, the martial artists in Cang Ling Town were all very puzzled... Could this duel be a scam? But what's the point of this kind of scam? Promote the economic prosperity of this ghost town? Did the Cang Ling Inn give Ye Manor a kickback? Or was Ye Cheng just messing with Xie San and the entire martial world because he was bored?

These explanations were obviously unreasonable, but no one knew what was going on.

More than puzzlement... unease was another emotion rising in people's hearts. But all they could do was wait, waiting for the unknown conspiracy to unfold...

…………

Full moon night in Cang Ling Town.

The moonlight was like frost, illuminating the earth as if it were daytime.

The One Manor, Two Towers, Three Sects, Four Schools, plus the remaining second and third-tier sects and martial artists who came alone, a total of more than four hundred people, came to the main street in front of the Cang Ling Inn at the same time. Even the waiters in the inn came to the street curiously, wanting to see if the two legendary peerless heroes really had three heads and six arms.

But until this moment, no one had seen Ye Cheng or Xie San's shadow.

Suddenly, a figure jumped up and landed on the roof of a civilian house in front of the inn. The person was standing about three meters above the ground, not too high, but the view from here was very wide, and everyone on the street could see him.

"Everyone, the time has come." The man said, his voice gloomy and hoarse, but it clearly entered everyone's ears. This alone was enough to show the strength of his internal energy cultivation.

Some Jianghu rookies with shallow experience didn't recognize this person, but the heads of the various sects basically knew him. The person speaking was Shang Fei, the most elusive of the Six Swords of Flower Shadows, the "Shadowless Sword."

Shang Fei was dressed in a black outfit, and his figure looked bony under the moonlight. After he finished speaking, he quickly took out a bamboo tube from his chest, and then took out a fire starter and lit the fuse at the bottom of the bamboo tube.

A few seconds later, a burst of fire shot up, accompanied by a whizzing sound, and flew into the sky.

As the saying goes... one arrow through the clouds brings thousands of troops to meet. Although Shang Fei's signal flare couldn't attract ten thousand horses, it could indeed attract thousands of troops.

At this time, another figure stepped on the ground and came to the roof, and asked, "Shang Fei, what do you mean by this?" The person who came was Ji Tong, the owner of the Bafang Tower. This person's nature was that he liked to get involved in everything.

"Let me answer this question for you." Lin Chang's voice sounded abruptly.

His voice seemed to come from outside the sky, gathering and echoing on the street, making people tremble. At the same time, Lin Chang's figure also flew out from the high place of the inn, stepping on the void, floating to Shang Fei and Ji Tong's side.

Today, the Azure Sky Sword changed his usual white-clothed swordsman appearance, put on a black brocade robe, and wore a sword at his waist, and carried two swords on his back, a total of three swords on his body. Lin Chang was originally handsome with sword-like eyebrows and starry eyes, but at this moment, he looked wild, with disheveled hair, and his face was covered with a layer of very obvious black and purple energy.

From that afternoon, Lin Chang and Shang Fei disappeared, and even Ye Muhan, Su Shang, and Miao Shaoqing didn't know where the two of them had gone.

No one expected that they would appear on stage in this way at this moment.

"Nameless Sword!"

"Broken Snow Sword!"

Among the crowd, there were people who knew the goods, and instantly recognized that the two swords carried by Lin Chang behind him were Xie San and Ye Cheng's swords.

For swordsmen, especially top swordsmen... the sword is like their own limbs. As long as the person is still alive, their limbs will never be handed over to others. But now, Lin Chang was actually holding these two peerless weapons that belonged to others at the same time, which undoubtedly made everyone present stunned.

"After the fire signal goes to the sky, nearly two thousand Imperial Guards will set off from the main road of Tongqiu and enter Cang Ling, surrounding it completely. Unless I speak, no one can leave Cang Ling alive." Lin Chang's speech was slightly trembling, which revealed his inner excitement and satisfaction. He had waited too long for this day, this moment.

"What did you say!" Ji Tong exclaimed.

The reaction of the hundreds of people on the street was mostly the same. Lin Chang's words were like a thunderbolt from the blue, which immediately caused an uproar.

Several sounds of wind brushing against cloth sounded, and four more figures went to the roof, namely Gongsun Qian, the owner of Wanxia Tower, Abbot Faming of Shaolin, Sect Leader Song Kuan of Renwu, and Sect Leader Zhong Lian of Xiaoyao.

"Amitabha, Benefactor Lin, is this true?" Faming asked politely.

Song Kuan said, "Is this Sect Leader Ye's intention?"

And Zhong Lian asked, "Why are Great Hero Xie and Sect Leader Ye's swords on you?"

"Sword Leader Lin." It was Gongsun Qian who said the key point, "The imperial court and the martial world have never interfered with each other. This is an iron law for many years, but you actually colluded with the Imperial Guards..."

"What is collusion?" Lin Chang interrupted, "As a citizen of the Great Ming Dynasty, I am loyal to the imperial court. How can I talk about collusion?" His eyes swept over the five people other than Shang Fei, "You hypocritical old thieves are all hypocritical, occupying mountain gates, sticking to the old ways, and not accepting the control of the government." He snorted coldly, "To be polite, I call you 'Sect Leaders'. To put it bluntly, you are just a bunch of third-rate martial artists who deceive the world and steal their names."

His remarks of group ridicule completely exploded the people below. The crowd was instantly filled with righteous indignation, and there were constant shouts of abuse. If the sect leaders of the Two Towers and Three Sects weren't still standing on top, it was estimated that dozens of weapons would have been thrown at Lin Chang.

"As the saying goes... after learning literary and martial arts, sell them to the emperor's family." Lin Chang was unmoved. He said leisurely, calmly, and righteously, "Thanks to the appreciation of Commander Qian of the Imperial Guards, I, Lin, have now surrendered to the imperial court and am loyal to the current Holy Majesty."

"Bah! Traitor!" "Lackey!" "I didn't expect the Azure Sky Sword to be such a shameless person!"

Lin Chang's words here caused another round of abuse below. The remaining three swords of the Six Swords of Flower Shadows naturally couldn't continue to watch. The three of them jumped onto a roof next to the civilian house.

Miao Shaoqing asked with a look of astonishment, "Senior brother! Are you crazy? What's going on? How could you possibly defect to the imperial court?"

And Ye Muhan was straightforward and spoke more harshly. She shouted sharply, "Lin Chang! You are talking nonsense here, trying to make Ye Manor the target of the entire martial world?" Her eyes then moved to the Broken Snow Sword behind Lin Chang, "Where is my elder brother? Why is his sword in your hands?"

"Oh... Junior Sister Ye." Lin Chang slowly turned his head, "You came just in time." As he spoke, he raised one hand, and a surge of Gang energy burst out, like a fierce tiger descending from the mountain, and went straight to Ye Muhan.

Ye Muhan had never seen an externalized internal force with such power and speed. Caught off guard, she was hit head-on by a huge force, and spat out blood on the spot, flying backwards.

"I think this should clear the relationship between Ye Manor and me." Lin Chang said jokingly.

At the same time, he drew out the Azure Sky Sword from his waist, and pointed the sword in the direction of Ye Muhan, and a sword Qi shot out swiftly, arriving before the attack.

"Hmph... as for your elder brother, go see him in the underworld." Lin Chang smiled.

Ye Muhan, who was in mid-air, had no way to avoid it, and was pierced through the neck by the sword Qi, and died instantly. Su Shang and Miao Shaoqing were horrified and stunned when they saw this. They were completely powerless to do anything about what happened before them. The strength and speed of Lin Chang's sword Qi were not something that the two of them could keep up with at all. Even if they wanted to jump forward and block it with their bodies, it was too late.

Lin Chang turned his face back to the five sect leaders who were already stunned, and pointed to the two swords behind him: "Now, you should understand how I got these two swords, right?"

For a time, there was silence.

Unlike the tricks that Feng Bujue and the others played, Lin Chang used methods that the martial artists in this world could understand and see. He used internal force, used martial arts, and there was a pattern to his every move.

It was precisely because of this that he made those people feel fear and despair.

"Listen carefully." Lin Chang looked at the astonished faces, saw that those who were still cursing had all closed their mouths, sneered disdainfully, and then said, "Tonight, taking advantage of the fact that all of you sect leaders, masters, and seniors are gathered here, I will give you two choices."

No one interrupted him, everyone listened to his words with bated breath.

"The first is, from today onwards, respect me, Lin Chang, as the leader of the martial arts alliance. In the future, as long as you are a person in the Jianghu, you must obey my orders. All sects and individuals must write down their martial arts into books and hand them over to the imperial court, and must not hide anything. Only those who hand over their martial arts can leave Cang Ling."

"And that second path..." Lin Chang smiled, "is death."

"Absurd!" Ji Tong said, "Even if you lead two thousand Imperial Guards to surround Cang Ling, so what? They are just a bunch of soldiers and farmers. How can they be a match for the hundreds of masters here!"

"They don't need to be a match for you. They just need to stop you for a while." Lin Chang replied calmly, "I'll do the killing."

"I'll kill you first!" A roar, a sword, came through the air.

The bamboo was divided into two halves, and the sword came from the middle. Miao Shaoqing's shock had subsided, and he was furious. His Zhenqi suddenly rose to its peak, and the bamboo sword howled.

Su Shang also followed closely behind, wanting to avenge her senior sister. She and Ye Muhan were like sisters, and she respected Lin Chang like an elder brother. Just now, seeing her senior sister die tragically at Lin Chang's hands, she couldn't help but feel dazed and mentally devastated. At this moment, although she was trying to cheer up, with tears in her eyes, when the Autumn Orchid Sword was unsheathed, her killing move "Fragrant Orchid Stands Alone" was still extremely sharp and merciless.

"Hmph... ridiculous." Lin Chang snorted coldly, sheathed the Azure Sky Sword back, and then crossed his hands and grasped the Broken Snow and Nameless Swords behind him.

The two divine weapons were suddenly unsheathed, and their Qi shook the nine heavens and ten earths, deterring all directions.

The pressure generated by just unsheathing the swords caused the five sect leaders and masters who were closer to Lin Chang to retreat three steps.

Miao Shaoqing and Su Shang, who launched the attack, were blocked by the enormous sword Qi and couldn't get close to Lin Chang's body within a zhang (approx. 3.3 meters). They were blocked by an invisible force in the air.

"The night of the full moon is when my divine skill is at its peak. Even I didn't expect that I would be so strong..." Lin Chang held one sword in each hand, tilting them and hanging them down on both sides of his body, "You people are too stupid. It seems that I have to make my words clearer...

Ye Cheng died long ago. The letter of duel for the Cang Ling Sword Debate was written to Xie San by me. The news was also released by me. From the moment you came to Cang Ling, you have already fallen into my trap.

Cang Ling Town is surrounded by mountains on three sides. At this moment, the two paths out of town have been blocked by the Imperial Guards. You can't escape. I have plenty of time to kill every single one of you."

He paused, and then said: "The only variable in this plan is the spies sent by the Divine Marquis Mansion, but none of them entered the town alive, so they can't find out anything. If you are counting on a third force to wade into this muddy water, then give up on that idea."

"Hmph... it seems you really have planned everything very well..." Ji Tong snorted coldly.

"Ji Tong, I know what you are planning in your heart. I think many people here have the same idea as you. Heh... you think that with the combined efforts of you so-called 'masters', you can kill me. Then, you hundreds of people can rush out of Cang Ling or temporarily escape into the mountains." Lin Chang saw through what most people present were thinking, "Hahaha... if you have the guts, come on. The first to come will die first. When enough people have died, the rest will naturally hand over the martial arts of their sects in order to save their lives."

At this point, layers of black energy faintly bloomed around his body. It was more like a bloodthirsty desire than killing intent.

"Fellow Jianghu people, didn't you come here just to see the swords of peerless masters stained with blood? If so, why not use your own blood to witness my, Lin's, swordsmanship." His expression was arrogant, and his black and purple terrifying face was covered with a grim smile. "Of course, I also allow you to submit. The path is yours to choose..." At this moment, Lin Chang's face was no longer human. A black and purple energy gathered on his forehead, condensed and did not disperse. His pupils were also in the same state, terrifying and full of malevolence, like a demon, "...those who obey me prosper, those who defy me die."