Chapter 16 At Long Last

The darkest hour before dawn, even the light mist in Burial Heart Valley had dimmed a bit.

After a night of carnage, countless people had been forever buried within the valley.

However... Du Ying was not yet dead.

He had fled all the way back from Soul Severing Gorge, arriving at the gates of Burial Heart Manor.

But what awaited him there... was also a scene of rivers of blood.

At that moment, the gates of Burial Heart Manor stood wide open. From outside the threshold to inside the gate, and into the manor's courtyard, as far as the eye could see... there were corpses everywhere.

The vast majority of those corpses were fully armed government soldiers, while some were dressed as servants or wore flying fish robes. But the most conspicuous among them... were probably the few corpses of old women.

Du Ying knew very well that each of these old women who served Yama was a master. They had been accompanying Yama for many years, receiving more guidance than anyone else in the valley; even the weakest among them could match the head of a top-tier sect in the martial world.

Yet, such a group of people had now died here together with those government soldiers...

"What happened?" Du Ying's worldview had been repeatedly refreshed several times in the previous few hours. Compared to the shock that Yuan Qi, the Red Cherry Team, and Feng Bujue had brought him, his reaction to this scene seemed somewhat subdued.

"Oh? There's still one alive here..." Suddenly, a yin and soft voice entered Du Ying's ears.

The moment Du Ying heard the voice, he felt his blood run cold, because the voice came from a spot only inches behind him.

"Who!" Du Ying turned around abruptly, as startled as a frightened bird.

Immediately afterward, he saw Cao Qin.

"Oh~ it's Du Ying." Eunuch Cao looked at his face and said, "You escaped from Soul Severing Gorge, did you?"

"You... who are you?" Du Ying retreated involuntarily. He didn't know why, but he felt an instinctive fear. "Did you kill all these people?"

"This seat, Cao Qin." Cao Qin replied calmly, with his hands behind his back, "As for these people... some were killed by me, and some were not."

"What... what exactly happened here?" Du Ying asked hesitantly. At the same time, he had secretly activated his Zhen Yuan (true energy) to prevent the other party from taking any action that would be detrimental to him.

"Is there really a need for someone who is about to die to know so much?" Cao Qin replied coldly.

"Even if I'm going to die..." Du Ying tried his best to control his breathing and replied in a deep voice, "It's always good to die with a clear understanding..."

"Hmm..." Cao Qin nodded upon hearing this. "That makes sense." He paused for a moment, "I think you can be considered a grandmaster of your generation, and you're already quite old, so I'll grant you this last wish."

Du Ying didn't respond to these words, but silently waited for the other party to continue.

Cao Qin thought for a few seconds and then continued, "Chang Wei killed Zhu Zhizha; then, the seven great masters of the imperial court killed Chang Wei; then, Yama and I went to kill those seven great masters, but they scattered into the manor and summoned the soldiers outside. So, Yama, I, and the maids in this manor, went to a lot of trouble to kill all of them."

"You..." Although Du Ying had heard the whole story, he didn't understand the reasons behind it, so his face was still filled with surprise and doubt. "Just who are you?"

"He is like my father, my teacher."

The person who answered this question was actually Yama...

At this moment, her figure also appeared in the courtyard in front of the gate, and her attire was exactly the same as Cao Qin's... a simple and elegant long robe wrapped around her enchanting figure; a wine gourd was also hanging from her waist.

"What?" Du Ying simply couldn't believe his ears. He thought Yama's cultivation was unparalleled in the world, but he never expected that he would hear Yama say such words with her own mouth today.

"So... do you now have a clear understanding of your death?" Immediately afterward, Cao Qin opened his mouth and asked.

"I..." Du Ying didn't get to answer Cao Qin's question, because he only had time to say one word before his head left his neck... and came into Yama's hands.

It was a slender, jade-like hand, and also a deadly hand... this hand was perhaps more deadly than any weapon in this world.

"Four young ladies, you've been watching there for quite a while, why don't you come out and talk?" Two seconds later, Cao Qin suddenly turned around and said to a corner of the courtyard.

That place was originally empty. But after Cao Qin finished speaking, a layer of optical camouflage suddenly disappeared, revealing the figures of the four members of the Red Cherry Team.

"Since we've already been discovered by the two of you, then I might as well be straightforward..." This time, Xu Huai Shang didn't let Blood Rose negotiate, but directly said, "First... are you going to kill even us?"

"That depends on your attitude." Yama said, raising her hand to gesture at the corpses all over the ground, "You see... all my maids are dead, I wonder... would the four young ladies be interested in serving me?"

"If a negative answer is equivalent to death, then I'm afraid we can't refuse." Xu Huai Shang replied.

"Hehe... why do you have to show such a displeased expression?" Yama smiled, a smile so beautiful that it was intoxicating, "You should be happy, in fact... you are incredibly lucky." She waved her sleeves, "In the past few years, my maids were also free from worry about food and clothing, but they didn't get to live any truly good days; but from now on, it will be different... From today onward, I am the Supreme of the Martial World. After you leave the valley with me, you will have endless wealth and glory to enjoy."

Just as she finished speaking, and Xu Huai Shang hadn't responded yet, suddenly!

"Su-preme? Of the? Mar-tial? World?"

A voice full of cheapness and capable of shaking the skies came through the air...

That voice repeated these four words one word at a time, and it was filled with obvious questioning and sarcastic tones.

Without a doubt... the only person in this script who had the ability (the amplification effect of the Cheating Pocket Watch) and the interest to do such a thing was Feng Bujue.

"Hmph... this is getting interesting." Cao Qin closed his eyes and chuckled, commenting in a low voice.

In the next second, Feng Bujue's figure appeared on the high walls of the manor. Although... the gate was only a few meters away and was open.

"This daddy is here! Who dares to call himself the Supreme of the Martial World?" After he appeared, he made another blatant taunt, as if he didn't put anyone in his eyes.

At this time, Yuan Qi, the Hell Frontline Team, and the martial arts heroes had all passed through the village outside the manor and arrived at the gate of the manor.

Hearing Jue Ge's remarks, the expression of the League Master Yuan became quite awkward. Logically speaking... as the leader of the martial arts alliance, Yuan Qi was the most qualified person to say those words, but how could he possibly say such words. However, he couldn't openly point out that Jue Ge was "speaking wildly", after all, this kid was on his side, and his martial arts were unfathomable. It would be unwise to start a conflict with him at this time.

Therefore, Yuan Qi could only pretend that he didn't hear anything and quickly changed the subject, "Yama! Stop your wishful thinking!" he shouted loudly, "Today, heroes from all walks of life have gathered here, we will never let you hand over the Longevity Technique to the court..."

When the word "court" reached his mouth, he happened to see the corpses of government soldiers all over the courtyard, which made him swallow the second half of his sentence.

"Speak, why aren't you speaking?" Yama looked at him, as well as the leaders of various sects and factions behind him, with obvious hatred flashing in her eyes, "You want to say that I colluded with the imperial court and then asked me to hand over the Longevity Technique to you?"

"Hmph..." Yuan Qi waved his sleeves and snorted coldly, "Even if you didn't collude with the imperial court, it's also a fact that you've been harboring villains in the martial world for all these years. A scoundrel like you..."

"Shut up!" At this moment, Yama roared out loud, interrupting Yuan Qi's words.

In an instant, overwhelming Zhen Li (true power), along with murderous intent and sound waves, spread out...

The four members of the Red Cherry Team were also unlucky. Because they were relatively close, they inexplicably had 20% of their survival points blasted away by this sonic attack.

The four members of the Hell Frontline Team were slightly farther away, but they also couldn't escape this AoE (area of effect) attack, and they all lost about 15% of their health.

Of course, compared to the martial arts heroes, the players were considered lucky... because their power system wasn't built on the foundation of "internal energy", so this move didn't cause them full damage; they only received the damage from the "sound waves" part of it, but in reality... the other part of the damage, which was built on the foundation of "internal energy resonance", was the most fatal.

After the roar, apart from the eight players, Cao Qin, and Yuan Qi, everyone else present was shaken by Yama's roar until they spat out blood, and they all fell down with horrified expressions.

These people were either well-known martial arts seniors, or the head teachers of famous sects, or young and promising martial arts prodigies.

However, among these people, no one could withstand this move.

Although no one died on the spot, the internal injuries caused by this move clearly made them unable to stand up.

This roar... seemed simple and crude, but in fact, it contained extremely profound martial arts principles. Leaving aside the players, just talking about the martial artists in this world... if you want to defend against this move, you must do two things – first, possess internal energy from a general-level martial arts heart technique for more than twenty years; second, sense and determine the mysteries of the move at the moment when the opponent makes a move, and immediately use your own internal energy to create a barrier inside your body, covering your main internal organs.

Only by doing these two things can you complete the defense against this move, otherwise...

"Heh..." Yama looked at the martial artists who immediately began to meditate and circulate their energy after falling to the ground, and sneered, "What 'heroes'... what makes you worthy of being called heroes?" As she spoke, she shifted her gaze to Yuan Qi, "On the other hand, you, this chess piece... can be considered a character."

"Yes, I'm quite surprised by this..." Cao Qin replied.

"What are you talking about... who's a chess piece?" Cold sweat had already dripped from Yuan Qi's forehead. The martial arts cultivation that Yama had demonstrated in the previous attack had already made him almost despair. If it weren't for the four fellow daoists from Broken Sword Teahouse standing beside him, he would have surrendered eight or nine times out of ten.

"Can't understand, right?" Cao Qin smiled at him, said five words, and then suddenly changed his voice, changing it to a nearly hoarse state, "Then if I say it like this... would you understand?"

"You!" In an instant, Yuan Qi's spirit... was pushed to the brink of collapse.

Because he recognized that voice, it was a voice that he could never forget.

"You... you are..." Yuan Qi's body and voice were trembling non-stop.

"That's right, I'm the fortune-telling blind man." Cao Qin looked at Yuan Qi calmly with his hands behind his back, "And you... are a chess piece that I buried in the martial world more than twenty years ago."

"No... that's impossible..." Yuan Qi said in shock, "You and I only met by chance... if I hadn't come to you for fortune-telling, you wouldn't have been able to discover that I have the Life Star Profound Art in my body!"

"Yes, you and I did meet by chance." Cao Qin replied, "But you must understand... regardless of whether or not that chance encounter happened, the result would be the same." He paused for half a second, "In addition to the Life Star Profound Art, I know at least twelve kinds of peerless techniques that are 'enough to dominate the martial world if you obtain just one of them'; among them, there are ten kinds... that I can take out and teach to others at any time. In other words... as long as I want to, it's easy to support a martial arts alliance leader. All I need... is someone who knows how to cherish opportunities, and about ten years of time."

Hearing this, Yuan Qi's psychological defense completely collapsed. He had already realized that... this person's cultivation and calculations had already reached a realm that mortals couldn't reach; he knew without even trying that whatever he did... it would be futile in front of this person.

"Eunuch Cao, what kind of play are you putting on? Can you explain it to us?" At this time, Feng Bujue spoke again, but his tone hadn't changed at all.

"Hehe... Teahouse Master Feng, speaking of which, this matter also has something to do with your Broken Sword Teahouse." Cao Qin replied.

"Oh?" Feng Bujue's reaction was incredibly fast, "Could it be... related to the 'Azure Spirit Sword Debate' back then?"

"Exactly." Cao Qin replied, "It seems that Teahouse Master Feng still remembers, that's good..." He raised a hand and gestured towards Yama, "Let me formally introduce everyone... this 'Yama' is none other than the orphan of Bi Kong Sword Woods, Chang Wei... Lin Yan."

"Oh~" Hearing just this sentence, Feng Bujue deduced many things.

"And I..." Cao Qin glanced at Lin Yan sideways, "Am her adoptive father."

As soon as his two sentences of introduction were finished, Lin Yan lightly moved her lotus steps, turned around to face Feng Bujue, and said while looking up, "Teahouse Master Feng, Lin Yan... has long admired your name."

Yama's words... frightened everyone to no small extent, from Yuan Qi to the members of the Red Cherry Team, to the martial arts heroes, and to the audience outside the arena... all of them looked at Feng Bujue with the eyes of someone looking at a god.

"For more than forty years... I've dreamed of seeing you..." Then, a strange smile appeared on Lin Yan's face, a smile with a few hints of excitement, a few hints of ruthlessness, and a few hints of indescribable subtle emotions, "You can't imagine how many times I've killed you in my dreams... it was precisely because of that hatred for you that created who I am today."

After saying this, she untied the wine gourd from her waist... tilted her upper body, raised the gourd to her neck, opened her crimson lips, and took a large gulp.

She drank with such abandon and self-forgetfulness... even if the jade-like nectar overflowed from her mouth, flowed down her chin, past her pink neck, and into her heaving bosom... she didn't care at all.

Isolated valley, desolate autumn, under the mist, in front of the flowers.

But seeing that the beautiful woman drank down an entire gourd of wine, then lightly twisted her waist, straightened up, and glared at Feng Bujue with a pair of soul-stirring, charming eyes, "Today, I will finally get my wish..." She threw out the wine gourd in her hand, spread out her palms, and unleashed her Zhen Yuan in anger, "...Kill you, and avenge my father!"