Hua Yitang sat in the old pagoda tree, biting down hard on his jaw.

Below the tree, Lin Sui’an had been locked in battle with the Golden Feather Guard for close to a quarter of an hour now, and still there was no outcome.

Qian Jing’s blade-wind howled and sang; the blade-light was so brilliant it was nearly impossible to look at directly. The Golden Feather Guard’s four-foot broadswords were dense and pressing from every direction, their cold light seeping into the bones — like countless black thorns growing from the earth itself, encircling Lin Sui’an in layer upon layer.

Qian Jing’s light hacked through one layer, and another closed around her at once, as though they could never all be hacked away.

Hua Yitang had initially assumed it was a formation, as it had been on the Yun Shui River. But after watching for a while, he realized it had nothing to do with any formation: this terrifying encirclement was built entirely from human bodies.

These Golden Feather Guard soldiers, tempered by the Dragon-God Fruit, were not only faster and stronger than ordinary men — the blade technique they used was also distinctly peculiar. It bore some resemblance to the “Blade-Cauldron Severing Grief” and “Throat-Slash Blood Thirty Paces” from the Ten Purities Compendium: both were lethal in a single strike, with every move aimed at Lin Sui’an’s vital points. By contrast, Lin Sui’an was clearly still holding back — using only the nimble, fluid footwork of “Swift Wind Shaking Autumn Leaves,” her slashing blade-edge like leaves swirling in a storm, blooming one after another into flowers of blood.

The hands and feet of the Golden Feather Guard were drenched in blood; their arm and leg tendons had clearly been severed. In any ordinary person, this would have meant collapse long before now. Yet their pain response and nerves seemed to have been numbed by the Dragon-God Fruit as well; they pressed on as if wholly uninjured, attacking in a sustained and relentless onslaught. And — Hua Yitang had the unsettling impression — the stimulation of the blood seemed to be driving their attacks toward an ever-growing frenzy.

Lin Sui’an’s attacks were growing gradually slower; her pupils occasionally went momentarily blank — the telltale sign that her stamina was nearly spent.

Hua Yitang’s heart burned with anxiety. His fingers dug hard into the bark of the tree.

What to do? What to do, what to do, what to do?!

What to do? Things were not looking good at all.

Lin Sui’an thrust five times in rapid succession; five flowers of blood burst open before her eyes. The bloodied Qian Jing hummed ceaselessly, sending wave after wave of numbness through her palm, wrist, and arm — she could no longer tell whether it was the muscular fatigue of extended combat or whether — swish — a few droplets of blood spattered onto her face, stinging like needle-pricks.

Lin Sui’an quickly wiped the blood from her face, but it was already too late. Too focused on the fight, she had paid no attention to those tiny stings of pain earlier. Blood had already splashed across her entire body; in the glow of Qian Jing’s jade-green blade-light, the blood of the Golden Feather Guard showed a faint and eerie purple-blue.

Of course — she should have realized it sooner. Their blood carried the toxin of the Dragon-God Fruit; for this body of hers, that was a serious problem.

The sounds of clashing blades grew increasingly distant; gradually, all she could hear was the sound of her own heavy breathing. Lin Sui’an kept moving and leaping to dodge the lethal strikes, kept hooking and severing arm tendons and leg tendons, kept knocking apart ribs and bones and arms — stubbornly determined to preserve their lives. But it seemed as though everything she was doing was futile.

This style of restrained fighting not only consumed enormous stamina; to make matters worse, every time a Golden Feather Guard was wounded and their blood sprayed out, the Dragon-God Fruit toxin’s contamination of her body deepened further — a vicious cycle.

The bloody killing instinct lurking deep within her body surged through her blood vessels with each heartbeat. Her nasal cavity and throat felt as though she had swallowed burning coals; the heat in her pupils was fierce. Lin Sui’an forced herself to suppress the boiling murderous urge, fighting almost entirely on reflex and muscle memory.

Qian Jing’s attacks grew less and less precise; she was forced to abandon the intricate, exact technique of “Swift Wind Shaking Autumn Leaves” and switch to broader, more sweeping moves. Again and again Lin Sui’an tried to push through — these Golden Feather Guard soldiers must be close to the breaking point. Just one more moment, just one more wound inflicted, and they would fall. She could win!

[Why do something so foolish? Isn’t there a simpler way?]

Suddenly a voice bored into her mind, like a demon’s murmured whisper.

[With your strength, you could kill them effortlessly. Kill them, and it’s done once and for all.]

Lin Sui’an: Shut up!

[Don’t kill them and you will die. Kill them and you will live. It’s that simple. Don’t you understand?]

Lin Sui’an: Enough noise!

[What are you actually afraid of?]

[Are you afraid that if you kill people, you’ll become a true ‘army-breaker’?]

[Because this body originally belonged to the ‘army-breaker,’ not to you — and you’re afraid that you’ll lose all control of it?]

[Ha. What you’re afraid of has never been killing, and it has never been the ‘army-breaker.’ From beginning to end, what you have always feared is yourself.]

[In truth, the one you are most unable to trust is yourself.]

Get out of my head! Lin Sui’an raged inwardly.

[Get out? How laughable — I am you…]

A blade-flash came hacking down viciously toward Lin Sui’an’s forehead. The black blade reflected Lin Sui’an’s eyes back at her; in her line of sight a white light flashed, and the golden finger activated. This time, the white light contained not someone else’s obsession — but Lin Sui’an’s own memories.

A reddish-brown security door.

The front door of her home in fourth grade of elementary school.

Lin Sui’an stood before the door, her thin, small fingers gripping a key, poised at the edge of the lock.

She didn’t dare open the door. Because once she opened this door, there would come, one after another, the betrayals and deceits of those she held dearest — ultimately leading to her mother’s tragedy, and to… her own death…

[If you don’t open this door, then none of it will happen. You might still live in that beautiful time and world, living a happy life…]

[You have always known: everything that followed began with you.]

[If you could start over, what would you choose?]

[Are you afraid? Then don’t open this door.]

[Quietly leave, and pretend none of it ever happened. Wouldn’t that be better?]

The key slowly, slowly drew back from the lock… the security door receded bit by bit into the darkness… and in a daze, a faint, elusive fragrance drifted to her…

[None of it happened? A happy life? Hah—]

Lin Sui’an abruptly gripped the key in her fist. Within the bone-piercing pain, the key transformed into Qian Jing, its blade cutting open her palm. Her wrist gave a snap; Qian Jing’s light exploded outward. The security door before her shattered to dust in an instant.

[Forget that! Rather than sinking into self-deceiving happiness, I’d rather face a reality drenched in blood!]

All five senses rushed back at once. First came smell — her nostrils filled with a familiar scent of flowers and wood. Then came sight — she saw a person’s ear and hair pin. Finally came touch and hearing — someone was holding her tightly, and the cold light of a blade was sweeping down overhead—

It was Hua Yitang! When had he—

In the split second of lightning and fire, Lin Sui’an swung Qian Jing out with full force. The black blade descending from above was cleaved in two. The reeking blood sprayed out like a fountain; one Golden Feather Guard flew into the air, staring fixedly at Lin Sui’an, fell heavily to the ground, and from his blue-white eyes came a stream of blue tears. The light faded. He was dead.

Lin Sui’an’s heart seized. The world before her eyes dissolved into an expanse of icy blue. Her whole body felt as though it had crashed into a block of ice that had never thawed — the cold pierced to the marrow. All around her, cries and wails rose one after another.

[Kill me!]

[Kill us!]

[Please — let us die!]

[We are no longer human — let us die!]

[It hurts so much! It hurts so much!]

[Kill me!]

[Kill me!]

[Kill me!!]

“Lin Sui’an! Lin Sui’an!!” Hua Yitang’s shout was so loud it almost burst her eardrums. Lin Sui’an jolted back to herself. She saw the rims of Hua Yitang’s eyes burning red. Her gaze swept — and she saw the blood-streaked bodies of the Golden Feather Guard lying all around, and the ice-blue tears in their eyes.

Lin Sui’an’s eye sockets burned; the sourness in her throat was almost unbearable. She pulled Hua Yitang behind her. “Stand back.”

Hua Yitang’s voice was trembling. “You…”

“I’m completely clear-headed.” Lin Sui’an took a step forward, tore off her sleeve, and bound her right hand to Qian Jing together. She looked steadily across the circle of Golden Feather Guard surrounding her. “Is this your last wish?”

The Golden Feather Guard gave no answer — only silent tears. They raised their black broadswords once more.

“So be it!”

Lin Sui’an seized Qian Jing and drove into the enemy formation. This time, there were no elaborate footwork patterns, no fluid changes of technique — only the purest, clearest killing intent.

One move of “Throat-Slash Blood Thirty Paces” severed a neck; two moves of “Blade-Cauldron Severing Grief” opened the chest and belly; three moves of “Awaiting the Slaughter like Livestock” sheared away both legs; four moves of “Swift Wind Shaking Autumn Leaves” pierced through the heart — this was the Ten Purities Compendium in its true form: a blade for killing, moves for killing, harvesting lives with the most ruthless of blade techniques. After ten utterances of cruelty came ten utterances of purity.

Hua Yitang sat down on the ground, completely stupefied.

Lin Sui’an was killing — killing swiftly! One move, one life; one slash, one person. Wherever the blade-light reached, lives fell like grass, and blood splashed like ink. Too fast — impossibly fast. The Golden Feather Guard had absolutely no power to resist; one after another they went down, and in mere moments all the Golden Feather Guard had become corpses — severed limbs, rolling heads, spilling viscera—

In a sea of blood and firelight, the black-clad girl held up her eerie-green broadsword, head slightly tilted, gazing at the night sky. The wind swept the blood from her body — drip, drip — like crimson tears.

This — this was the true mistress of Qian Jing. The truly invincible — army-breaker.

Every part of Hua Yitang’s body was trembling; his heart trembled too. He struggled to his feet — one step, another step — treading through the blood, walking toward her…

Lin Sui’an felt very quiet. So this is what killing feels like.

No sorrow, no joy, no hatred, no rage. The whole heart a vast and empty wilderness, as though in all the expanse of heaven and earth, there was only her, alone.

She lowered her eyes and looked into the eyes of the Golden Feather Guard’s bodies. She saw nothing — presumably because she had already granted their wish; they had died satisfied and at peace, leaving behind no lingering obsessions.

And what of her own obsessions?

It seemed she had just shattered them with her own hands.

If that was so, then it was also well…

Of all the world’s ten thousand things, why cling to anything—

Suddenly, a petal white as snow drifted into her palm — gentle as the fragrance that tethered her.

A boy as lovely as a flower, his eyes red, stood before her. His beautiful, billowing garments and her own blood-drenched black robe entwined in the wind.

That lonely, boundless emptiness was filled with the scent of flowers. Her feet found solid ground once more beneath them; above her head the heavens blazed with a river of stars.

Lin Sui’an was a little dazed. She stood there for a while, then smiled. “I won. I didn’t become the army-breaker.”

Hua Yitang gently drew Lin Sui’an into his arms, his voice a little hoarse. “I knew you would win.”

“Don’t cry…”

“I’m not crying!”

This fellow was lying again; her shoulder had already been soaked through with his tears.

Lin Sui’an sighed and leaned softly against Hua Yitang, her grip on Qian Jing barely holding. “Killing people is so exhausting…”

“Rest now.” Hua Yitang quickly swiped his sleeve across his face, then decisively lifted Lin Sui’an onto his back. Suddenly, he heard the voice of Prefect Jia, not far away, shouting something about “bandits… kill on sight.”

Not good!

Hua Yitang’s expression changed at once. If another wave of Golden Feather Guard came now, neither of them would survive.

And at that very moment, Lin Sui’an — draped across his back — suddenly swept her arm backward and sent Qian Jing sweeping toward the dark shrubbery. A figure screamed and leapt out. “It’s me, it’s me, it’s me! Stop slashing at everything!”

The figure was wearing a constable’s uniform, face sallow as dirt, hunched over, looking thoroughly unremarkable — but his eyes were bright and sharp. He opened his mouth with the password: “Palace jade nectar wine!”

Lin Sui’an narrowed her eyes. “Yun Zhong Yue?!”

Hua Yitang: “How do you turn up absolutely everywhere?”

“Something’s happened, something’s happened!” Yun Zhong Yue grinned and circled around the two of them. “I only arrived a tiny bit late — and our Lin Niangzi has already carried out a complete massacre. Tsk, tsk, tsk — these were the prized specimens the Jiang Family of Taiyuan spent years tempering — and now they’re all just so many torn rags. Tragic. Just tragic.”

Lin Sui’an raised her blade. “Another word of nonsense and you’ll be the next torn rag.”

Yun Zhong Yue wasn’t remotely frightened; he tilted his smiling face upward. “So what’s the plan now? The whole of Andu City is full of the Jiang Family of Taiyuan’s people — stay here any longer and you’re both dead. How about coming with me?”

Hua Yitang narrowed his eyes coldly. “Did you bring fire oil?”

Yun Zhong Yue raised an eyebrow. “What for?”

“Burn all these bodies.” Hua Yitang said. “Since the Jiang Family of Taiyuan wants us both dead, we might as well die right here.”

Lin Sui’an, with barely enough strength left to speak, added: “If we’re dead, Jin Ruo and Fangke and the rest of them will be safe.”

“Dead man’s ploy — faking your death to escape into a new life. Splendid strategy.” Yun Zhong Yue nodded repeatedly, then conjured a small oil flask from nowhere — as if performing a magic trick — made a circuit of the area, and tossed out a fire-starter. In an instant, black smoke billowed and firelight shot skyward.

Hua Yitang carried Lin Sui’an on his back and followed Yun Zhong Yue into the darkness.

Lin Sui’an looked back and watched the flames swallow the bodies of the Golden Feather Guard. Beyond the fire, the sharp, furious shouts of Prefect Jia rang out — and then, very soon, fell silent.

(Author’s note: struggling through cramps to get this Ni You Qian Wo You Dao – Chapter updated)