"General Yue, you truly are ruthless. But what makes you so sure I'll cooperate with you?"
The Yunwen agent had overheard everything just now. Suddenly, he spoke, his voice hoarse and mocking. With a cold laugh, he drew his short sword, clearly intending to kill himself.
But just then, Yue Qianfeng spoke, "If you can defeat this child, I'll let you go."
This spy had just witnessed Yue Qianfeng's brutal slaughter with his own eyes, and he also knew where Yue Qianfeng was hiding. They were sworn enemies, their hatred carved deep into their bones. Even a child would know that Yue Qianfeng's words couldn't be trusted.
Yet when he heard those words, the spy's hand faltered. His gaze dropped, landing on the child holding the blade before him. As enemies, it was almost unthinkable, yet he slowly lowered the short sword meant for his own throat. After a long silence, he spoke hoarsely:
"…You're General Yue's lieutenant."
"Marshal Yue's word is worth a thousand pieces of gold. I'll trust you."
Forcing himself to his feet, he pressed several acupoints on his body, stopping the bleeding from his wounds. The intense pain left him drenched in sweat, but faced with this sliver of hope between life and death, his mind grew sharper than ever. His internal energy surged, numbing the pain in his body. His sharp, leopard-like eyes locked firmly onto the boy before him. With a backward grip on his short sword, he drew a long, narrow blade with his other hand.
"Boy, come!"
Li Guanyi gripped his blade tightly, his heart racing. Yue Qianfeng smiled faintly and patted his shoulder. A surge of blazing heat poured into Li Guanyi's body, and at the same time, Yue Qianfeng's voice echoed in his mind:
"Step forward, lift the blade, slice the clouds, cleave the mountains."
That scorching current coursed through his meridians and muscles, awakening his body's instinctual responses. Li Guanyi stepped forward without thinking. The narrow blade in his hand swept upward in a sharp arc, emanating a chilling gleam beneath the moonlight like a crescent moon, meeting and knocking aside the Yunwen agent's long blade.
His opponent's strength was far greater than Li Guanyi's, but at this moment, the man was gravely wounded, barely clinging to life.
Moreover, the heat flowing through Li Guanyi's body greatly enhanced his muscles' explosive strength.
By sheer fortune and skill, the two blades met evenly. The hot current then twisted through Li Guanyi's arm, and with another turn of his wrists, that upward slash transformed into a heavy, downward cleave. Following the trajectory of the previous stroke, it crashed down fiercely. The tremendous weight of the blade shattered the spy's guard, tearing open his clothes and leaving a hideous, bleeding gash.
The Yunwen agent let out a muffled growl and lunged forward again.
But his body had been pierced by a Heaven's Mechanism Crossbow, a weapon only carried by cavalry captains of the Night Riders. His meridians were in tatters, and his strength and speed reduced drastically. Meanwhile, the scorching current surged through Li Guanyi's body, driving him forward. Every strike of his blade was fierce and domineering. The heat didn't dissipate after each movement but rather left faint traces flowing through his limbs and meridians.
This blade technique focused on heavy slashes.
Supported by sweeps and cuts, with thrusts used as concealed killing moves.
"Hold the blade horizontally—Sweep the Clouds."
"Grasp the hilt with both hands—Cut the Waves."
Yue Qianfeng's voice was unhurried. As the heat swept through Li Guanyi's arms, it stirred both his physical strength and his innate energy. The boy could feel a river of warmth rushing through his body, propelling the narrow, dark blade to carve through the rain-soaked night, flinging crimson arcs into the air.
Suddenly, the spy's eyes lit up fiercely. He abandoned his short sword and thrust forward with the narrow long blade, murderous intent surging straight toward Li Guanyi's face. In that instant, his instincts screamed—the chill of death crept over his skin, his mind went blank, and his whole body froze.
Then Yue Qianfeng's roar blasted in his ears:
"Open your eyes!"
"Look at the killing intent before you!"
Li Guanyi's eyes flew open. He could see the shattered rain mist in the air, the protruding, bloodshot eyes behind the masked man's veil. He could hear the man's ragged breaths, smell the thick scent of blood, the earthy smell of rain-soaked soil, and even the sour stench coming from the spy's mouth.
Staring death in the face.
At that moment, the heat surged again. Li Guanyi crouched low into a lunge, drawing his long blade back to his waist. Using careful footwork, he dodged the deadly thrust by a hair's breadth, his body taut like a drawn bowstring.
As the enemy's attack reached its limit, Li Guanyi suddenly sprang forward, driving his blade in a fierce thrust with both hands.
Yue Qianfeng's voice exploded in his mind:
"Pierce the King!"
The slender, shadowy blade was sharp—it was the masterpiece of Chen Kingdom craftsmen, a weapon capable of cutting down both armor and rider in a cavalry charge. In that instant, the long blade punctured through armor, tearing directly into the man's abdomen and internal organs. Viscous green bile mixed with bright red blood slid down the blade's blood groove.
Driven by that heat, Li Guanyi twisted sharply, narrowly dodging the spy's desperate bearhug. Seizing the hilt with both hands, he gave a fierce wrench, unleashing all his strength. That boiling heat erupted violently, nearly drawing upon every fiber of muscle and sinew within him. The narrow blade shredded flesh, flinging crimson and green gore into the dark rain once more.
Yue Qianfeng's roar rang out:
"Killing Strike—Slay the Heavenly Wolf!"
That brilliant arc of light sliced through the spy's flesh, becoming the last glimmer reflected in the man's pupils. It was not just a cut across flesh—it carved through ten years of nightmares in Li Guanyi's heart.
Clang.
The blade's tip embedded deep into the muddy ground of the rainy night. Li Guanyi gasped for air, rainwater pouring down his face. Slowly, he released his grip. Yue Qianfeng's residual inner force had dispersed from his body, but the memory of the blade technique remained imprinted within his muscles as if he'd been practicing this set of techniques for years.
Even more incredibly, the heat flowing through his meridians had begun to circulate on its own, forming a self-sustaining cycle.
His stamina began to recover at an astonishing rate, far better than when he'd been dragging corpses earlier. He lowered his head, gripping his right hand, feeling the warmth within, and looked ahead at the body of the Yunwen agent—scarred, bloodied, belonging to the enemy who had haunted his nightmares for a decade.
For a brief moment, his mind went blank. But then—the solid ground beneath his feet.
Even with his temperament, he felt an almost overwhelming urge to scream or cry aloud.
"Not bad."
Suddenly, a large hand ruffled his hair. Yue Qianfeng bent down, his powerful arm lifting the fallen spy with ease. He grinned savagely, grabbed the man's head, and with a brutal motion, drove it hard onto the blade embedded in the earth.
A shrill metallic screech.
That narrow blade—already embedded deeply into the ground—still managed to sever the spy's neck clean through.
With a casual toss—
A severed head. Blood gushing skyward.
The wilderness was filled with the stench of blood and killing intent.
That burly man tousled the boy's hair again and grinned broadly.
"Kid," he said,
"Welcome to this chaotic world."
(End of Chapter)