Deep within Floating Zero Brow Garden.
Raging fire blazed.
After Cheng Yunpao retreated, the “clanking” sounds still continued incessantly.
In the raging fire, the person holding a sword and chopping nets wore black monk robes with white hair cascading over his body. It was Puzhu.
He had already chopped through seventeen or eighteen nets. This was the last one.
The surrounding temperature had reached the point where his long hair was scorched dry and his monk robes caught fire. Thick smoke rushed upward with the wind. An ordinary person would have died long ago, but Puzhu was not ordinary.
He was extremely patient.
With a “clang,” the last iron net was severed by his sword.
He finally stepped into the lowest level of the Pleasure House.
Before him was a sea of fire, flames that had burned to their end and were now extinguishing.
Deep in the ashes were countless miserable and terrifying remains.
Charred corpses were collapsed in the depths of the fire pit, the ground covered with destroyed weapons. The roof was full of hidden weapons. A large pit had been dug here underground, with several layers of iron nets laid on the ground, and beneath the iron nets was where the firewood was piled.
Bai Suche had dug a deep pit beneath Yu Konghou’s great hall, filled it with insect-killing mugwort and bitter admonition seeds, using fire oil and charcoal as fuel. She had also laid refined steel iron nets on the ground and piled up bricks and stones.
Yu Konghou’s great hall had been turned into a roasting oven by her.
Puzhu lifted his sword blade, unable to distinguish who among the completely charred corpses was Bai Suche and who was Wang Lingze.
But his throat was burning. He detected an unusual fragrant scent here—the scent of “food.”
The poison of “Queen Bee Condensed Frost” was taking effect, reminding him that among these charred corpses, there was still “food.”
Puzhu closed his eyes, relying on his sense of smell to sniff lightly, then opened his eyes—he pressed his sword against someone’s chest.
That person’s hair was burned away, face completely unrecognizable, flesh and blood blurred, body thin as a skeleton. If not for the fact that he was still moving, he would truly look like a living ghost.
However, Puzhu pressed his sword against his chest and asked with calm indifference, “Benefactor Tao?”
That living ghost began to laugh lowly, making some “giggling” sounds. Even his throat had been burned, yet he still wasn’t dead. It was Yu Konghou. He was laughing that heaven wouldn’t end him. Tang Lici had knocked him into the fire pit, but the fire had extinguished shortly after. Tang Lici thought he would surely be trapped and burned to death, but this monk had opened a path to life!
Puzhu pushed with his sword tip, “Benefactor Bai sacrificed herself for the demon, lamentable yet admirable, but the ‘demon’ is dead while you are not.” He could smell that extremely enticing food fragrance on Yu Konghou, “What did you obtain from these corpses?”
Yu Konghou smiled silently—what did he obtain?
He couldn’t speak, otherwise he would laugh and announce to the world—that vile servant Bai Suche dared to seize his power, make him kneel, and wanted his life! She would die horribly one day! Just like now, look how she burned to ash! She burned to ash! While he obtained the method of immortality!
That vile servant attempted to perish together with Wang Lingze—if I hadn’t suddenly struck and dug away the Insect King from Wang Lingze’s body, she might have died at Wang Lingze’s hands long ago. How could she lie in the ashes with that old witch as ghosts?
I swallowed the Insect King, I am king, I will not die.
Even if Tang Lici forced me, tried to kill me, knocked me down from above, wanted to burn me to ashes, I will not die!
He glared at Puzhu viciously, completely lacking the gentle composure, thoughtful intelligence of his Xifang Tao days.
And Puzhu was also not the straightforward, carefree sword monk of that time. Just as Yu Konghou prepared to laugh loudly again, Puzhu thrust his sword into his skeletal dantian with a “swoosh.”
Then he flicked his sword tip, and a bloody black strange insect flew into the air, picked out from Yu Konghou’s dantian. Yu Konghou’s smile immediately froze. He couldn’t speak, otherwise he would certainly scream—that was his Insect King!
That was his only hope of living!
That was his…
Puzhu swallowed the Insect King in one gulp, turned around expressionlessly, and looked at Yu Konghou indifferently.
Yu Konghou clutched the wound at his dantian, looking at Puzhu in absolute horror.
This monk had gone mad… he actually stole the Insect King…
Puzhu swung his sword again, unhesitatingly striking down to sever Yu Konghou’s head.
Before the head could fall, Puzhu turned and walked away.
He had drifted quite far when a “thud” sound came from behind—Yu Konghou’s corpse hit the ground, buried together with the Pleasure House.
Chai Xijin no longer used the great drum sound-killing technique. Unable to match Fu Zhumei’s long song, he simply abandoned this supreme skill.
But having brought his war chariots this far, he was determined to win this battle.
The original plan of Tianqing Temple, he thought, was quite good.
The blood debt of White Cloud Valley, he wanted to repay with blood.
Moreover, with Wang Lingze’s assistance, the “Lamp-Calling Order’s” hereditary poison techniques were strange and unpredictable, like demon magic for controlling corpses.
Whether he could ultimately ascend to the imperial throne or not, the more soldiers and horses from White Cloud Valley’s slaughter died, the better… the more the better.
Behind him were countless wronged souls crying. They… needed to receive sacrificial offerings.
He stared at Yang Guihua’s Infantry Command. These imperial guards were exactly the group that had swept through White Cloud Valley under Zhao Zongjing.
His war chariot contained fire oil. Chai Xijin was skilled in hidden weapon techniques. He planned to drive these steel war chariots into the imperial guards that Yang Guihua had formed in array to watch, then ignite the fire oil and burn them to ashes.
The Central Plains Sword Society was changing formation. Earlier they had tried to flee, the Infantry Command was about to enter battle, and the situation was originally as he expected. As long as both sides engaged in close combat with heavy casualties, he didn’t care which side suffered the heavy losses.
But Tang Lici suddenly appeared and stirred up the Central Plains Sword Society’s hatred. The Central Plains Sword Society stopped fleeing and scattering, going from panic to a fight to the death, all because Tang Lici had said two sentences.
“Above heaven and below earth, in the human world and fairy realm, only Tang is supreme, regardless of life or death.”
“I’ll return to the Pleasure House first. If you can’t finish killing the people here, don’t come see me.”
After that, the situation reversed. The Infantry Command stopped to watch, while he himself was trapped by the Central Plains Sword Society’s overwhelming hatred.
Young Master Tang was always Young Master Tang.
If Chai Xijin had such intelligence and bearing, such cruel self-harm and harm to others, perhaps Chai Xijin wouldn’t be alive, and Fang Pingzhai wouldn’t have had to die. He gripped the drumsticks in his hands tightly and sighed, “Ignite fire and charge the formation.”
That red-robed woman was Wang Lingze’s beloved and trusted disciple, a spider woman who raised venomous spiders. Thousands of garrison troops on the battlefield and three commanding officers were all under her control. It was she who continuously released poisonous substances. Those under “Three Sleeps Without Night Heaven” had their emotions follow different poisons—joy or anger, madness or derangement—coordinating with Chai Xijin’s sound-killing great drum to control this vast battlefield.
But as the fierce battle with the Central Plains Sword Society intensified and Chai Xijin’s sound-killing couldn’t match Fu Zhumei’s singing, the battle situation was losing control. Hearing Chai Xijin order the charge, the spider woman was delighted and immediately scattered the scale powder of poisonous butterflies that induced madness, making the soldiers pulling the war chariots rush forward wildly.
Blood splattered, stimulating the soldiers under “Three Sleeps Without Night Heaven” to become even more frenzied. They drove the war chariots charging toward the swarming Central Plains Sword Society members. Some people leaped from the ground, recklessly embracing Central Plains Sword Society disciples poisoned with “Nine Heart Pills,” biting necks and eating flesh. The attacked sword society disciples wailed loudly, rolling all over the ground. Riderless war horses bolted and ran wild, trampling countless people. Looking around, misery was everywhere.
Cheng Yunpao wielded his sword to save people, Meng Qinglei shouted loudly, Dong Hubi raced across the field, Fu Zhumei had to save both people and horses. The Central Plains Sword Society had just built up momentum and was about to rush toward Chai Xijin’s war chariot when the opposing crowd suddenly went mad, immediately scattering the sword society’s momentum.
“Boom”—”Boom”—”Boom”—
Several tremendous explosions in succession—as the maddened crowds charged into the sword society camp, several war chariots suddenly caught fire and exploded. The war chariots were loaded with silver scale powder and black fire oil. Once this substance touched the body, it would ignite and burn, extremely difficult to extinguish. Both sides suffered heavy casualties around the exploding and burning war chariots. Blood burned to charcoal black under the poisonous fire, many people struggled and moaned on the ground, impossible to distinguish friend from foe. Cheng Yunpao couldn’t bear it and reached out to help someone up, but that person bit his wrist, immediately causing blood to flow.
Chai Xijin saw the battlefield in great chaos, like purgatory, without any satisfaction of great revenge being repaid. The current dynasty’s soldiers and horses had killed his White Cloud Valley relatives, and he sent the court’s soldiers and horses to die—it just seemed as it should be, unrelated to his joy, anger, sorrow, or happiness. The war chariots charged forward with poisonous fire, his war chariot following closely behind, rushing toward the troops Yang Guihua commanded.
Yang Guihua only protected the princess and didn’t participate in the battle of Floating Zero Brow Garden, but Chai Xijin drove his chariot charging madly at him. Yang Guihua hesitated slightly, then gave the order, “Protect the princess!”
Eight hundred Infantry Command soldiers arranged their formation like a long dragon, head and tail connected, completely surrounding Miss Hong and the others. The Infantry Command formed a coiling dragon array, slowly rotating. The outer soldiers all touched and withdrew immediately from the mad garrison troops. They all held long weapons in neat formation. For a time, the already frenzied garrison troops couldn’t attack the inner circle.
At this moment, new string sounds rang from the forest. Liu Yan plucked the strings again. This time, Yu Tuan’er stood behind him, pressing both hands against the major acupoints on his back, transmitting her meager internal power to Liu Yan. Liu Yan’s fingers carried true power, and the string sounds were completely transformed, as if each sound could directly enter the soul.
Fu Zhumei had just reined in a horse with his left hand and scooped up a person with his right. He pressed the person onto the horse, turned back, and watched Liu Yan strike the strings and play.
This was a new song that he had never heard and couldn’t sing along with.
New sound-killing enveloped the entire field. Yu Tuan’er’s face was pale, Liu Yan’s face was equally pale. Neither of them could bear this intensity of energy circulation. But seeing corpses everywhere before them, raging fire burning bodies—human purgatory was no more than this. This human world was not Liu Yan’s human world, but he already knew bone-deep that the people in this world were no different from those in that other world.
How bitter is the human world.
Only humble, only honored.
Only like grains of sand.
“I am calamity, I am shackles, I am demon, and I am cause and effect. Half my life consumed, watching worldly prominence. I grasp worldly evil in my hands, treading over rivers of blood, watching grief fill my sight, watching the struggling, moaning, wailing dead; I went to the end of green duckweed, waiting for dying flowers, waiting for heaven and earth to collapse, waiting for the results of sinking, destruction, and disappearance… But as these flowers bloom and those flowers fall, all living beings can always surpass me. I find it hard to speak, not knowing what life and death are for. Heaven and earth grow cold then hot, right and wrong become correct then incorrect… Who loves me, who hates me, who killed me—”
Liu Yan sang with full voice. Even Miss Hong had never heard him so unrestrained and passionate. Master Liu was always cold, absolutely beautiful and strange, with unfathomable thoughts. Even when playing zither and singing, it was dark and low.
But now Liu Yan played freely, his fingernails splitting on the zither strings. His song was passionate and stirring, his voice reaching the clouds. Assisted by internal power, it was simply wild, gloomy, and full of killing intent. Every word and sentence contained bewitchment. Everyone struck by his zither song recalled those years when Liu Yan controlled the Pleasure House and committed countless evils. He coldly and contemptuously killed innocents, he allowed Nine Heart Pills to poison the martial world. How many naive girls joined the Pleasure House, controlled by strange arts and poisons, their entire lives ruined?
Liu Yan’s evil was real evil, not false, nor unavoidable.
From all directions, venomous gazes immediately turned toward him.
Even those struggling and moaning on the ground, drooling from the corners of their mouths in poisoned madness, quieted somewhat, their eyes also gaining venomous expression, looking toward Liu Yan.
The strings in Liu Yan’s hands paused slightly. He asked Yu Tuan’er behind him, “Are you afraid?”
Yu Tuan’er didn’t know what he wanted to do, but whatever Liu Yan wanted to do, she didn’t think it was bad.
“I’m not afraid of death.” She was gritting her teeth, inputting internal power into Liu Yan’s body as much as possible, only regretting that she usually wasn’t diligent enough and couldn’t cultivate earth-shaking power.
I’m not afraid of death.
Liu Yan was slightly moved. This little girl was never smart, but she could always… see the truth.
With a “crack,” Liu Yan raised his whip to urge the horse, making the black stallion carry both of them toward Chai Xijin’s war chariot.
He used too much force. The black horse went mad and reared up, then charged head-first toward Chai Xijin’s war chariot.
Liu Yan was on the horse. Following the mad horse’s leaping momentum, leaning against the horse’s neck, his posture remained unchanged.
His zither and song rang out again.
“I am calamity, I am shackles, I am demon, and I am cause and effect. Half my life consumed, watching worldly prominence. I grasp worldly evil in my hands, treading over rivers of blood, watching grief fill my sight, watching the struggling, moaning, wailing dead…”
Chai Xijin experienced Liu Yan’s full-powered sound-killing for the first time. His heart and blood surged, and his originally empty mood suddenly fluctuated. He was like a person with nothing inside, suddenly filled with various emotions of self-loathing, struggling pain, cold despair. He touched hatred… a hate and madness similar yet different to his own, equally desperate and hollow.
Because it was unbearable, so harm must be inflicted on others.
But others’ downfall and suffering couldn’t make one’s own become bearable enough.
This wasn’t revenge, this was sinking into depravity.
Master.
You and I, master and disciple… truly are kindred spirits.