Radiant Blade of the Wilderness

Caught completely off guard, Qin Li had no time to dodge. He could only let golden light surge before his chest, attempting to condense it into armor plates.

Before the golden armor could fully form, Meng Qingze’s palm had already struck him. With a sound like rotting wood splintering, Qin Li staggered back several steps and slammed into one of Riverwaves Hall’s vermillion support pillars.

The golden light across his chest dissipated instantly. His clothes disintegrated like decaying butterflies, revealing a sinister green palm print.

Qin Li had initially felt only shock and bewilderment. Now fury surged through him, his eyes reddening. He swore to return this palm strike, swore to make Meng Qingze suffer just as grievously.

While the two fought fiercely, Ren Youyang’s other two guards turned their gazes upon Su Chongxiao, brimming with violent hostility.

Your Celestial Maiden Sect isn’t even from our Great Zhao. What right do you have to compete for the huai fruit?

And you, Su Chongxiao—what right do you have to be so handsome, so distinguished, that every maid and woman in the Zhen estate can’t take their eyes off you?

Kill! Kill! Kill!

One charged toward Su Chongxiao like a fierce gale. The other seemed to merge with the shadows cast by sunlight through the latticed windows, silently circling to Su Chongxiao’s flank.

Both of you think you’re worthy of attacking me? Su Chongxiao found it both laughable and infuriating, a trace of violent impulse churning in his chest.

He sprang upward in an instant, sweeping his wide sleeve.

With a loud gust of wind, the guard charging head-on towards Su Chongxiao suddenly felt as though he had arrived in autumn.

The sun was no longer harsh, only casting a gentle warmth. A soft, pleasant breeze carried the fragrance of wheat and fruit, intoxicating the senses.

On a day like this, one should lie on a rattan cot, drowsy and content.

Drowsiness surged through the guard. His entire body went limp, wanting nothing more than to lie down right there and enjoy autumn’s tranquility.

The Autumn Lethargy Way of the Twelve Ways of the Great Void!

The instant his movements slowed, a crack of a whip sounded across his body—snap after snap merging into one continuous burst.

The guard was lashed off his feet and sent flying backward. His torso was covered in bloody welt marks. Some broke his ribs, others had a soft force penetrating deep into his body, and one struck directly beside his ear, whipping him unconscious.

The Celestial Maiden’s Invisible Whip. Only heard but never seen!

Su Chongxiao was still relatively able to restrain the violent impulse within him. He had clearly held back—otherwise, with his ability, six simultaneous lashes all landing would have meant certain death for his opponent.

"The Heart-Confounding, Mind-Disrupting Grand Art? The Capsized Vessel Sect?" Su Chongxiao turned his gaze toward the doorway.

Faced with this sudden anomaly, Zhen Qianfan at the head of the hall shot to his feet.

By now, Zhen Quanwang at his side had at some point gone red in the eyes.

You undying old bastard, why won’t you just die already?

I’m well past thirty and still only get to make decisions on trivial matters in this household!

Once you die, I’ll become the master!

Zhen Quanwang thrust out a palm as though carrying a tumultuous flood.

Specks of faint light suddenly appeared around Zhen Qianfan, like shimmering reflections on water.

Almost simultaneously, within a thirty-foot radius, the daylight dimmed as though layers of phantom waves were converging into a deep sea. The black shadow beneath Zhen Qianfan’s feet suddenly expanded outward like a leviathan diving into the ocean depths.

Zhen Quanwang’s palm grew slower and slower the further it advanced, finally stopping dead within the heavy "waves."

Hmph! Zhen Qianfan swept his sleeve and sent this worthless son flying, knocking teeth loose and sending blood streaming from the corners of his mouth.

Right on the heels of that, he glared at Su Chongxiao with a gaze full of violent hostility, lunged forward, and threw a punch.

Phantom waves surged and layered themselves upon Zhen Qianfan’s fist. The floor of Riverwaves Hall rapidly took on a sheen of moisture. Within thirty or forty feet, everyone felt as though they were drowning, their breathing no longer smooth.

Seeing this, Su Qingli darted from her position with the swiftness of a hare bounding from a falcon’s stoop, retreating toward a corner of the building. Her maidservant followed close behind.

She had said she knew only a smattering of martial arts, and that was indeed all she knew. Acting as an Anomaly Manifested through transformations and illusions was one thing, but in a battle involving Grandmasters, her skills were nothing to speak of. It was better to stay far away than distract her second uncle.

No sooner had she crouched in a corner far from the battlefield than she discovered someone else already hiding there.

Ren Youyang, his feathered robes and tall cap both hopelessly askew.

"What a coincidence," Su Qingli greeted him with the faintest twitch of her lips, not at all surprised by this display from a True Spirit Sect direct disciple ranked on the Orchid Fresh List.

Ren Youyang replied with considerable embarrassment, "Miss Su, the fact that we’re less affected proves that we’re both people of peaceful temperament who cherish everything in nature and cannot bear to harm others. Quite the coincidence indeed."

"Generally speaking, the higher one’s martial arts, the more lives one has taken, and the more latent killing intent accumulates. Only someone with martial arts as meager as mine would have no thought of harming others," Su Qingli bickered back with a touch of combativeness while turning her gaze toward her second uncle.

Facing Zhen Qianfan’s strike, Su Chongxiao tapped the ground with his foot and retreated rapidly, sleeves billowing. Between them, the crack of invisible whip lashes sounded again and again, each swallowed by the surging phantom water or blocked by Zhen Qianfan’s fists.

Seeing himself drawing closer and closer, Zhen Qianfan’s spirit suddenly swelled with elation. He seemed to see himself having already slain his powerful foe, obtaining what he had long dreamed of, finally completing his foundation.

He broke through barrier after barrier without stopping. He entered the Heaven-Man Realm, ascended to the Spirit Platform, and found the method to breach the heaven and earth severance and enter the Heavenly Realm.

His smile became unmistakable. His entire being grew light, floating higher and higher. The Heavenly Realm was now within sight.

He relaxed completely in both body and mind when a slender, snow-white palm appeared before his eyes.

That palm descended from the Heavenly Realm, pressing down toward the crown of his head.

The Immortality Ascension Way of the Twelve Ways of the Great Void!

The instant the palm reached the crown of his head, an intense sense of danger erupted within Zhen Qianfan.

Without time to think, he commanded the pitch-black shadow at his feet—the one that had taken the form of a leviathan—to rapidly contract upward and merge with his body.

With a great rushing sound, Zhen Qianfan thrust a single palm upward.

This palm was like a colossal sea creature leaping from the deep—carrying the ferocity to overturn rivers and seas. It churned the surrounding phantom water into a violent maelstrom.

The dark, swirling vortex centered on Zhen Qianfan’s palm drew Su Chongxiao’s Immortality Ascension palm strike toward it before the two collided.

BOOM!

Water exploded outward, cascading downward like a torrential rain that drenched the entire hall, and shooting upward as a geyser that smashed through the roof.

Zhen Quanwang, knocked back to his senses by his father’s blow, saw this scene and decided that staying in Riverwaves Hall was extremely dangerous. He scrambled and crawled toward the back of the hall, fleeing toward the outside.

At the same time, the broad-hat-wearing Dai Shen of the Capsized Vessel Sect and Ma Hanjiang of the Small Boat Gang stepped past the retainers, guards, and servants who had already begun slaughtering each other, arriving at the main entrance.

Dai Shen’s bright red, beak-like lips split into a grin. Seizing the moment, Su Chongxiao had been forced to flip upward by Zhen Qianfan’s palm to dissipate the force, while Zhen Qianfan’s feet had sunk into the wet ground, briefly immobilizing him. He drove his right palm forward, tiger claws stained with blood-red, each talon razor-sharp, aimed straight at Zhen Qianfan’s forehead.

Zhen Qianfan remained composed under pressure and inhaled sharply.

It was like a great whale drawing in the sea. In an instant, all the surrounding phantom water was absorbed into his body.

An instant later, with no time to thrust his palm upward again, Zhen Qianfan clenched his fist and threw an empty punch.

A violent roar of water suddenly erupted. Torrents of phantom water burst forth from where Zhen Qianfan’s fist met the air, as though a river’s dam had burst.

This drew the waterfall from the decorative rockery outside, which slammed at an angle into the hall. The surging force pushed Dai Shen back ten feet, his attack failing to connect.

Ren Youyang’s guards and Su Chongxiao’s attendants were all swept off their feet.

Ma Hanjiang of the Small Boat Gang did not join the assault on Zhen Qianfan. His mind held only one thought: making the Zhen household’s blood run like rivers.

He saw Zhen Quanwang’s retreating figure and, with killing intent flooding his brain, he manifested tortoise-shell patterns on his body as he sprinted in pursuit.

From the corner near the main entrance, the crouching Su Qingli said to Ren Youyang, "It’s rather dangerous here. Easy to get caught in the crossfire. I’m going to find somewhere else to hide."

Without waiting for his reply, she braced her hand, smashed through a wooden window, and landed lightly on the covered walkway outside Riverwaves Hall. Moving with elegant agility as she floated high and low, she ran along eaves and walls, nimbly putting distance between herself and this place of mutual slaughter.

Her maidservant followed using the same movement technique.

After fleeing for a while, Su Qingli spotted Ren Youyang barreling through one battle zone after another like a stray dog in full sprint. Ahead of him, a cluster of guards were fighting among themselves, nearly impossible to get around.

With a sigh, the girl turned back, grabbed Ren Youyang’s shoulder, and carried him along as she kicked off a wooden pillar, leapt onto the rooftop, crossed over rows of black tiles, and dropped down on the other side.

...

Lotus Pond Courtyard.

Having sent Cuihe off on other business, Qin Nuansheng had already followed Liu Yuzao’s instructions and changed into plain servant’s clothing, restyling her hair into twin-loop buns.

"Later, smear some dust on your face. Pretend you fell while fleeing the estate," Qi Xiaoxiang, under the alias Liu Yuzao, offered a few instructions.

Before Qin Nuansheng could say more, she nodded gently and continued, "The moment chaos breaks out, flee the estate. Go to the Li Family Steamed Bun Shop on Guangsheng Street. Say you want three plain buns: one donkey-meat filling, one venison filling, one fruit filling. Someone will be there to receive you and arrange your departure from Dingjiang Prefecture.

"You’ve performed very well these past two years. The sect master is pleased. After everything is done, do you want a sum of silver to live freely from now on, or would you like to choose a supreme art and train in martial arts?"

Qin Nuansheng was quite surprised.

"I’m already twenty-two. Can I still take up martial arts?"

"I didn’t start aperture refinement until I was twenty-four. Haven’t you also been body tempering and qi cultivating while at the Zhen household?" Qi Xiaoxiang said in her cool, detached voice.

Qin Nuansheng’s face lit up with joy. She performed a deep bow of gratitude.

"Please convey my thanks to the sect master!"

Qi Xiaoxiang returned to her taciturn state and waited patiently.

After an indeterminate amount of time, a boom sounded from somewhere in the Zhen estate. The faint sounds of battle cries and clashing blades drifted over.

Qi Xiaoxiang nodded to Qin Nuansheng, then walked out of the Lotus Pond Courtyard on her own. From within her robes she produced a mechanical contraption resembling a firework.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Three trails of sparks—red, yellow, and green—shot into the sky and burst into brilliant flowers.

...

Inside the county office, Qiu Chen, under the alias Ding Shengyi, was processing documents as usual, seemingly unaware that several colleagues were watching him.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

He raised his head and looked out the window, seeing fireworks blossoming in the sky.

A constable who had been pretending to chat nearby suddenly felt a swelling pain in his head. Long, tendril-like appendages seemed to be extending from his nose, mouth, and ears.

His vision went black. He drew his saber and slashed violently at another constable nearby.

Inside the clerks’ room, several other people likewise erupted into violence.

...

At the docks.

Seeing the red, yellow, and green fireworks bloom in the sky, Bull Ding’s face instantly split into a broad grin.

He whirled around and drove a fist straight into the foreman’s face.

BANG!

The foreman’s entire face caved inward as his body was sent flying over ten feet.

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