412: Chapter 21 Sound Kill_2 412: Chapter 21 Sound Kill_2 Sword Cultivator was fragile of build; close-quarters combat was his utmost dread!
“…”
Xie Xuanyi looked up at the falling artifact.
He had almost instantly seen through Huai Ting’s intention to use the artifact’s self-destruction to halt his own offensive and save Wu Yin in the nick of time.
The intention was good.
Had Huai Ting encountered the person he was in his former life, it might have had some effect.
But now…
this tactic was useless.
Xie Xuanyi did not summon the “Rule of Destruction” to defend.
Instead, he accelerated the black sword’s speed.
A Heavenly Puppet Sect cultivator like Wu Yin must be swiftly executed; should he manage to survive, the endless tide of corpses would only cause more trouble.
“No…
No!”
Wu Yin fled frantically, but how could he outrun a flying sword?
He looked back to see that streak of black light, his eyes revealing despair.
The Ghost Soul Rules shattered, the Grotto Heaven’s main puppet was killed, the Two Heart Puppets substitution was expended… His means of survival were all exhausted.
Now the only thing greeting him was a single path to death.
Hum.
A soft Sword Sound swept lightly across the Moss Ridge lawn.
The Rule of Destruction turned into a long line, cutting straight through!
This time, there was no Two Heart Puppets to die in his stead.
The running Wu Yin’s head was flung high, his face filled with fear.
Due to momentum, his torso still ran on, only to soon fall heavily to the ground.
A Heavenly Puppet Sect cultivator had a fragile body.
Under one sword strike, his Divine Soul perished, and his life and dao were extinguished.
Witnessing this scene,
Huai Ting’s expression did not show grief, but rather a slight relief.
Xie Zhen was fighting desperately to kill Wu Yin…
in his eyes, this was a good thing.
This meant that Xie Zhen would have no time to escape the range of the artifact’s explosion!
He had to take the brunt of his fatal move head-on!
“Explode!”
Huai Ting took a deep breath and clenched his fists.
A total of eleven artifacts.
There on the slopes of Moss Ridge, they detonated, becoming a splendid pyrotechnic display.
The youth in black, engulfed by dazzling flames, remained calm, even somewhat indifferent.
From beginning to end,
Xie Xuanyi had never thought to dodge.
He watched Huai Ting indifferently.
In that moment of their exchange of gazes,
Huai Ting felt a surge of intense unease.
He saw a strand of golden Primordial Fire ignite at Xie Zhen’s forehead.
The rain that fell upon the flame did not extinguish it but rather helped it burn even bigger.
The fiery light of the artifact’s explosion swallowed the youth in black, the golden light radiant.
In that near-still flash of brilliant light, Huai Ting could no longer distinguish whether the blinding golden brightness came from the artifacts, or from the youth’s Pure Golden Body?
Huai Ting’s mind went blank.
Who could have expected that Xie Zhen had not only cultivated the supreme “Rule of Destruction”
but had also developed a perfect Cave Heaven Golden Body?
“Boom boom boom!”
The explosion of eleven artifacts raised a scorching wave of heat over Moss Ridge, the fierce wind even blew the rain upwards.
Realizing that Xie Zhen was an enemy he could not handle, Huai Ting quickly turned to leave.
It was then he heard the first note of the zither, silent for a long time.
“Hum!”
Amidst the thunderous sounds of the explosions, someone gently plucked the long strings of an ancient zither.
This zither note, much like the Sword Sound earlier, was understated, covert, and laden with a rich Killing Intent.
…
…
The heavy rain washed over Moss Ridge, leaving the mountainside in utter silence.
The Sword Sound and the zither note burst forth one after the other, fading together.
After the lingering music expanded, the world returned to its previous calm.
“Cang Yin…”
“You…”
Huai Ting looked incredulously at the woman before him.
The woman’s expression was cold, her eyes filled with loathing.
With musical strings as sharp as a knife,
Huai Ting slowly reached out, trembling as he touched his own neck, where there was a fine red line, as if it had been tightly strangled and reaped…
But as the rain soaked it, the red line thickened gradually, starting to seep blood.
Huai Ting’s breathing also became rapid and difficult.
He looked at the woman before him in utter confusion, finally, his voice hoarse, he spoke.
“Why?”
Cang Yin pursed her lips and did not answer his question.
Just then, a soft sigh rose from below.
“Because she was never a member of the Hehuan Sect.”
The treasure artifact exploded, and a crater was blasted into the flank of Moss Ridge.
Numerous grass clippings were burned to cinders, yet the youth in black standing at the center of the crater had not sustained the slightest injury.
Xie Xuanyi slowly brushed the rainwater off his clothing.
He raised his hand to retrieve the sword-umbrella stuck in the lawn far away, folded it, and then propped it up.
Once the umbrella opened, if one were to look down from above,
They would find that the mountain waist demolished by the treasure artifact resembled an extravagantly beautiful black blossom.
“Not a disciple of the Hehuan Sect, then it is…”
Huai Ting looked bewilderingly at the woman before him.
Cang Yin gently smiled.
On this journey northwards, traversing mountains and ridges for thousands of miles, no one had seen her smile.
But this smile made Huai Ting feel a mix of terror and absurdity.
He was about to die; it was clearly this woman who had acted against him, yet upon seeing this smile, he found himself utterly unable to become angry.
What kind of Divine Soul technique was this?
What kind of heaven-defying Demon Art was this?
Cang Yin looked at the bewildered and perplexed Huai Envoy before her, her eyes showing pity and sympathy as if bestowing charity, and offered him the answer.
She softly uttered three words.
“Paperman Sect.”
“Paperman Sect?”
Huai Ting reacted as if he had heard the most terrifying words in the world.
His body began to tremble, he strained with all his might to lift his hands to steady his head, but no matter how much effort he exerted, the outcome was already sealed.
The disciples of Yin Mountain did not possess the Evil Technique “Two Heart Puppets” to save their lives.
Once decapitated, death was instantaneous.
And in just a few short moments, Huai Ting, the fifth disciple of the Yin Mountain White Ghost, was holding his head in his hands, tumbling to the ground, ending his sinful life in an utterly absurd fashion.
Even more absurd was,
The body fell next to the black umbrella, blooming crimson petals.
“Miss Chu, it’s been a long time, hope you’ve been well.”
Xie Xuanyi, holding up his black umbrella, looked up at the figure suspended in the air.
He extended his palm and lightly swept it across his neck, saying with a hint of self-ridicule, “It seems that in the North Sea Mausoleum…
you still learned quite a bit.”
Xie Xuanyi, who had killed countless foes, experienced his first mishap at the North Sea Mausoleum.
Had he beheaded Chu Man then,
Even if Lu Yuzhen bore the Undying Spring, she would not have been able to bring Chu Man back to life.
“Mountain Master Xiao Xie is too kind,”
Chu Man did not mind the joke and responded warmly, “Isn’t that all thanks to your teachings?”
Although both were smiling,
The air was filled with Killing Intent that had already spread.
“Your cultivation has progressed faster than I thought.”
Xie Xuanyi squinted as he assessed Chu Man.
In just a few short months without seeing each other, this woman’s realm had greatly elevated, and now she had even condensed “Tao Rules”!
What kind of astonishing talent was this?
Such a speed of cultivation would probably make the favored sons of those Holy Lands feel ashamed!
“After all, my teacher is the Dao Master,”
Chu Man became much more humble and polite in her words, still smiling as she said, “Although Chu Man has made some progress, compared to you…
I am still far behind.”
…
Xie Xuanyi’s smile faded.
He knew Lu Yuzhen was very capable, but he had not expected Lu Yuzhen to be so incredibly skillful that the Three Great Sects were heading north to negotiate with the Great Chu Royal Family…
Such an important secret plot, yet Chu Man had managed to infiltrate it, with the disciples of Yin Mountain and the Heavenly Puppet Sect completely oblivious.
How ironic could this be?
If he had not intervened, Moss Ridge would have had a peaceful night, so wouldn’t the ensuing negotiations between the Three Great Sects and the Great Chu Royal Family be entirely witnessed by Lu Yuzhen?
“The Dao Master said to me that Mountain Master Xiao Xie is destined to be a Guest Elder of the Paperman Sect,”
Chu Man spoke with a smile, “But Guest Elder sir, it seems that you’ve acted a bit too ruthlessly tonight, don’t you think?
The Imperial City Department will be here soon, aren’t you afraid of bringing down trouble upon yourself by killing them now?”
She tilted her chin, indicating that Xie Xuanyi should not have acted at this moment.
No matter what, they should have waited.
Wait until the negotiations were over, then take action.
“I am not only going to kill them,”
Xie Xuanyi said calmly, “I am also going to kill you.”
…
…
(Much better, will resume double updates tomorrow.
The next update is at 12 noon.)