The wind blew. Xigua clenched her teeth, unable to suppress the emotions surging in her mind from Lin Ecan’s single sentence. Across the rain, Lin Ecan gazed at her, smiling, rather satisfied with the current situation.

The former first-rate master of the martial world, before his reputation had ever reached its peak, had been forced into hiding by Fang La’s rebellion, living under a false name for over a decade. Those ten-odd years had allowed him to think quietly amid suppression, to refine his martial arts, walking a path different from most in the martial world. Now that he could finally reappear before the world’s eyes, there was much, in his view, that needed to be vented, one thing at a time.

He gave his broad sleeves a light flick, raising his head to look at the sky. “You didn’t mishear. There’s no longer any need to conceal this matter. The ambush that killed Liu Dabiao back then — on the surface it looked like the Ministry of Justice’s doing, but in truth, behind the scenes, it was our secret operation. It was the only time our side acted after the Manichaean sect split apart.”

He smiled. “Your father was an extraordinary man of his generation. Whether the ambush would succeed was fifty-fifty at best. That we later managed to kill him was a stroke of luck, and our side paid no small price for it. At the time, Fang Qifo was still secretly searching for our whereabouts, and considering that if anything went wrong, we might be traced and wiped out entirely, Senior Sister decided to wait and see how things developed — and that waiting stretched into another decade… This one must admit, ever since that rebellion of his, we have long had no chance for revenge. In that respect, Fang La truly was a man of his generation too.”

Xigua remained silent, waiting for the man to finish talking to himself. By now, she, Fang Shuchang, and Qian Luoning were all on high alert. Lin Ecan hadn’t approached, but as he spoke there, his casual gestures carried a naturalness that made it hard to approach carelessly — his massive frame seeming to melt into the rain. The two sides stood off against each other like that.

Lin Ecan sighed with a smile. “A bright pearl cast into darkness, fine brocade worn in the night — both regrets in a man’s life. These ten-odd years, this one cultivated in secret, partly because I had no other choice, forced into silence, and partly because my heart truly was filled with suppression. Quiet solitary study doesn’t necessarily bring one progress — but that suppression can. In this respect, I must thank Fang La and your father for the experience they gave me back then…”

Fang Shuchang laughed coldly. “You could just say you’re a pervert who, because you failed, can only hide in the shadows cursing your enemies without daring to strike.”

His words were vicious in the extreme. Lin Ecan turned his gaze on him, still smiling, looking almost like a bashful, scholarly young man. After a moment, he even nodded. “Put that way, there’s really nothing wrong with it.”

He paused. “In this life, no one escapes the suffering of the seven emotions and six desires. Confucianism, Buddhism, Daoism — all three seek principle, seek liberation, seek mastery, and all things in this world arise from those seven emotions and six desires. In my youth I was called ‘Demon Buddha’ — of course I never believed in the Buddha. This one holds those seven emotions and six desires in reverence, for it is because of them that people act at all, and because they go unsatisfied that people strive to do things well. Without emotion pushed to its limit, matters too rarely reach their own limit…”

“…These past ten-odd years, my heart has carried all manner of obsessions — greed, anger, delusion, hatred… These things too have kept me from resting, from letting go, for a single moment throughout these years. What I seek is a breakthrough in understanding. Every emotion in this world has two sides, positive and negative — this judgment of positive and negative may stem from morality, or from oneself. This one has taken the positive side of each and set aside the negative. This one once coveted worldly fame, craved others’ reverence — and so had to train tirelessly. Because my heart held hatred, I pursued the day I would avenge it. Because this thought became an obsession, I could not let go — and so there was no longer any road back… Over these ten-odd years, this one has forged a path out of all of it.”

His tone remained even as he related this journey of the heart to them, and yet by the time these words had finished, the atmosphere between the two sides had already shifted somewhat.

The tension in the other’s calm tone was gathering toward its peak; on Lin Ecan’s seemingly refined, round face, an entirely different expression would occasionally flash across — sharp, furious, deep, oppressive, and penetrating gazes all merging together. In this moment as he spoke, it was as if the eeriness and violence of the “demon” and the clarity and transparency of the “Buddha” were both converging upon him.

“This one admits that Fang La was an extraordinary man of his generation — because he truly accomplished what this one could not. But if we speak only of martial skill between the two of us, as early as five years ago, this one had already surpassed Fang La by a measure. In single combat, none among Fang La’s followers could match this one.”

Qian Luoning laughed. “That old habit of yours, bragging, is showing again. The man’s dead — of course you can boast however you like now.”

Lin Ecan smiled. “Well, these things always have to be settled by actually fighting, don’t they.”

He lowered his head, exhaled, then raised it again. “In truth, some years ago, matters had already become quite simple for this one. When I could take revenge, I would come out and take it. If your side proved too strong for revenge to be possible, it wouldn’t much affect this one either. Today is much the same. Telling you the truth of how Liu Dabiao died does indeed lift this one’s spirits somewhat. The reaction this one hoped to see, I have now seen. Little girl — if you die today, will you have any last words?”

“You two, go.”

Just as Lin Ecan finished asking his question, the slightest of the three figures finally spoke. Liu Xigua had kept her head lowered until now, but the pressure radiating from her had already risen to its peak. Fang Shuchang and Qian Luoning, blades also drawn, froze in surprise. Lin Ecan, standing there, tilted his head slightly, his mouth forming an O. “Oh?”

“You two, go!” Liu Xigua said again coldly, then raised her blade horizontally with one hand, closed her eyes, and opened them again. “My father’s vengeance — I will take it with my own hands! Fat man… no one can save you today.”

In terms of overall strength, Lin Ecan clearly outmatched Xigua, but Xigua herself was, by now, one of the top masters in the martial world. Though she seemed to be showing off recklessly, Fang Shuchang and Qian Luoning understood — she was giving the two of them the chance to flee quickly, so they could go back and warn the whole group to relocate. After a moment’s hesitation, Xigua’s bloodshot eyes glared over at them. Fang Shuchang and Qian Luoning exchanged a glance, gritted their teeth, and bolted. In the blink of an eye, with Lin Ecan momentarily distracted, Xigua had already fixed her gaze on him.

As the two figures rapidly withdrew into the distance, the two of them faced off for the space of a few breaths before Lin Ecan shook his head. “What good would that do…” He began walking forward. His pace wasn’t fast, but he clearly wasn’t underestimating Xigua either. Xigua held her blade level, watching his approach.

Time seemed to slow. The distance between the two figures gradually closed in the rain, edges crossing, on the verge of erupting. Just as Lin Ecan was about to enter Xigua’s striking range, his footsteps strangely shifted, seeming to slow even further. There, Xigua lowered her gaze, lowered her blade’s edge, her clenched jaw suddenly radiating a chilling aura.

Like the instant a bowstring twangs, the air and rainwater burst apart with a snap! The next moment, Xigua turned and ran!

“Ah…” Lin Ecan’s lips parted slightly in surprise, and then he laughed despite himself. In responding to her move, his sleeve had swept out, exploding the surrounding raindrops like firecrackers. But the young woman’s figure, like an arrow loosed from a bow, had already pulled far away.

Moving like a startled rabbit, Xigua’s eyes still carried that crimson hatred, but her choice in this moment was, in fact, to flee without looking back. From the very start, in the sarcastic banter she, Fang Shuchang, and Qian Luoning had exchanged, they had been assessing the man’s weaknesses. Lin Ecan was formidable, but his frame was massive and his movement not agile enough — surely he couldn’t be fast either. Knowing that his mention of her father’s death was meant to provoke her, Xigua had chosen to display her anger openly. Only after Fang Shuchang and Qian Luoning left did she turn to flee — because among the three of them, in her usual training with that massive blade, her lightness skill and footwork were, in fact, the strongest.

The truth of her father’s death might not be false, and her heart truly was filled with rage — she badly wanted to turn back and fight him with everything she had. But now was not the time for battle.

While everyone else was still in danger, she couldn’t afford to gamble out of such selfishness.

Given Lin Ecan’s build, she didn’t believe he could catch up to her. And yet, moments later, a sound of wind being torn apart, defying all reason, arrived behind her!

Lin Ecan’s attack came like a raging tide!

…

After that instant of stunned laughter, Lin Ecan finally broke into a full sprint, chasing after Xigua.

His massive body seemed to churn up a sound like thunder and wind in the rain; the two figures, one ahead and one behind, flew swiftly across the small hillside, straight toward the little woods on the far side. And it seemed that, in this high-speed chase, the distance between them was gradually closing!

Ordinarily, relying on the momentum of swinging a heavy broadsword, Xigua’s displayed skill was already top-tier in the martial world — but her lightness skill was, in fact, her strongest asset, one for which she likely had no equal in the entire martial world. And yet in this moment, Lin Ecan’s body was defying all reason, as if something astonishing were bursting forth from that massive frame, thundering after her with unstoppable force. Just as she plunged into the woods, Xigua had already felt the roar of wind tearing through the air behind her head.

Lin Ecan closed in from behind, reaching out with one hand to grab at her; amid his soft laughter, his five fingers seemed to gather a whirlwind of thunder between them.

In this instant, Xigua understood — Lin Ecan hadn’t lied. What supported this massive frame now could only be an astonishing, terrifying internal power like a raging tide; his skill had genuinely reached the realm of a grandmaster. She had never seen the legendary Zhou Tong, said to be the greatest under heaven, but at this moment, Lin Ecan was already comparable to her father in his prime — perhaps even surpassing him.

Even as she calculated against him, he was surely calculating against her as well. If Fang Shuchang and Qian Luoning were still here, in a three-against-one fight he might not have gained much ground; by sending her two elder brothers ahead, thinking she could surely escape on her own, she might well have fallen into his calculations too.

Realizing this, she gritted her teeth and accelerated again, her figure stepping, stepping, stepping up the trees ahead, rising rapidly. Lin Ecan’s palm struck the tree trunk before her with a boom, the trunk — as thick as a bowl’s mouth — shattering outright, the tree toppling. Xigua’s figure folded in midair, slashing down furiously with her blade reversed; Lin Ecan’s palm rose to meet it from below, and Xigua’s fist crashed into his palm. As her body dropped, both legs kicked violently toward the temple at the top of his head.

Amid the creaking groan of trees falling, the sound of their exchange rose rapidly. Xigua’s Little Vajra Consecutive Fists were fierce and swift, combined with slashing blade and kicking feet, her attacks agile and unending. Lin Ecan’s own strikes, however, were ferociously powerful to the extreme; driven by deep internal power, every blow carried astonishing force. In the blink of an eye, several more trees in the woods shook, the rainwater gathered on their canopies crashing down in sheets, two of the trees toppling. Suddenly, Lin Ecan grabbed hold of a tree trunk as thick as a bowl’s mouth and swung it horizontally. Xigua dodged among the branches and leaves of that tree, striking as she moved — but with a thunderous boom, the tree was sent flying into the sky!

The tree soared skyward, blocking the rain like a canopy spread open. It had been snapped off at the trunk; the crown and branches flying through the air were like a spread umbrella, some parts already severed and flying off on their own, and within that canopy was Xigua’s own body, likewise sent flying by the impact.

With a boom, the tree flew two or three zhang before crashing down and rolling away with a clatter. Xigua’s body also fell from the air, tumbling backward a good distance before she managed to plant one hand on the ground and half-kneel, steadying herself. She had originally worn a bamboo hat and straw raincoat; the hat was now gone, her hair and clothes disheveled, caked with mud, utterly bedraggled. The rain soon washed the mud away, and when she raised her head, blood was already seeping from her mouth.

With a boom, thunder rumbled in the sky again, and Xigua tilted her head slightly toward the sound.

Over there, Lin Ecan emerged from the woods, carrying a simple killing intent, closing in on her…

…

At the same moment, on another side of this rainy land, a small convoy of carts entered the filthy, mud-slicked little county town called Chongping. Lifting the carriage curtain to look outside, Ning Yi set down the few reports in his hand and rubbed his forehead. In his gaze was a certain uncertain unease and confusion.

Thunder rumbled, sounding in the distance.