Several sharp "swoosh" sounds cut through the air as the thirty-three masked figures in azure moved with practiced precision. Their coordinated combat techniques were flawless—they formed a perfect circle, simultaneously raising their sleeves as string sounds rang from their short flutes. Thirty-three barely visible cold gleams flashed like spider silk, instantly entangling Tang Lici's sleeves.
Tang Lici raised his flower hoe with casual grace, splashing a handful of dirt toward the advancing figures. As the cold gleams caught his clothes, he had already struck twice more with the hoe, carving a bowl-sized hole in the earth.
Seeing this, Hua Wuyan's voice rang out sharply: "Draw blades!"
The masked azure figures immediately drew knives from their chests. The one closest to Tang Lici brandished a snow-bright blade, striking down toward his exposed back. Tang Lici's elbow shot backward, connecting with the blade with a resonant "hum." The azure figure froze in stunned surprise as Tang Lici reversed his grip to seize the man's knife, slashing lightly to parry seven or eight attacking short blades with rapid "clang clang clang" sounds—all while his right hand continued digging three inches deeper with the flower hoe.
This person was equally dexterous with both hands—left hand wielding the knife, right hand the flower hoe, moving as though there were no difference between them.
Miss Hong watched the battle unfold from her vantage point upstairs, her brow slightly furrowed in concern. Tang Lici's martial skills were profound, and beyond her expectations, he seemed remarkably experienced in combat, as if he frequently fought with others. From his fluid movements, the Thirty-Three Assassins Formation clearly wasn't having much effect—he was determined to dig through the accumulated earth to find where the pills were hidden.
She gently waved her white handkerchief toward the window—a silent signal.
Hua Wuyan's expression shifted subtly. He dropped the grass he'd been toying with, picked up a long sword from the ground, bowed toward the tower with theatrical flourish, and drew the sword with a decisive "swoosh."
Tang Lici suddenly whirled around. Dozens of sharp blades crossed beside him in a deadly dance. He had been managing to hold off ten blades with one knife, but suddenly a sword came from behind with fierce wind that couldn't be ignored. He blocked horizontally—"clang" as blade met sword with jarring force.
Hua Wuyan was shaken back three steps, but immediately short knives attacked Tang Lici's right arm, left shoulder, front abdomen, and back waist in coordinated strikes. He smiled slightly, leaning back to avoid them, glancing up at the tower with knowing eyes. His blade technique suddenly changed—"swoosh" with one brutal stroke, he severed the left arm of an azure figure beside him.
A piercing scream tore through the air as the azure figure rolled to the ground, clutching his spurting stump. Tang Lici struck successfully and showed no mercy—"slash slash" with several consecutive strikes, he cut down six men beside him with ruthless efficiency. Blood flowed everywhere, severed limbs scattered about like discarded dolls. In an instant, the beautiful white flower cluster transformed into a slaughter field.
With such fierce power demonstrated, the remaining twenty-seven men's courage turned cold and their movements slowed noticeably.
Hua Wuyan remained undisturbed, smiling as he thrust his sword forward. "One comes, one gets hurt—Young Master Tang has such cruel methods. You claim to be righteous in the martial world, yet you maim and kill so ruthlessly. Haven't you considered that these people also have parents, wives, and children?"
Before finishing his words, he thrust five swift strikes. His mouth spoke of idle clouds and wild cranes, but his hands struck with extreme poison, every move targeting vital points with lethal precision.
Tang Lici's left-hand blade swept through the air, blood droplets from the blade tip flying in the wind to splatter with a wet "tap" on Hua Wuyan's refined cheek, immediately adding three parts ferocity to his beauty.
Tang Lici smiled coldly. "When did I ever claim to be righteous in the martial world?"
Before the words finished leaving his lips, sword light crossed past them in a brilliant arc. Hua Wuyan shouted loudly, "Flowers Fall at Dawn and Dusk!"
Suddenly sword light burst forth like an epiphyllum blooming—indescribable magnificence radiating outward. Hundreds of sword beams struck directly at Tang Lici's abdominal vital points—precisely where he had confessed his weakness earlier!
The dark red tower was indeed filled with mechanisms and secrets. As Tang Lici swung his blade to parry the onslaught, he realized what had happened—when he had spoken with Miss Hong earlier, people were hidden in the tower's secret compartments with another method of information transmission, allowing his conversation to be quickly conveyed to Hua Wuyan.
Now the masked azure figures had gradually become familiar with his blade techniques and footwork. Injuring them was no longer easy, and their coordinated short blades came three inches closer to his body with each exchange. Cold gleams shot secretly from the short flutes, making defense nearly impossible. Amid the "clang clang clang clang" of changing blade techniques, Tang Lici gradually lost his advantage, fighting to a stalemate.
With human wave tactics employed, once time dragged on, Tang Lici would surely be defeated.
Hua Wuyan smiled as his sword strikes became increasingly vicious. Tang Lici swept his blade across a neck—another scream as he wounded someone else. His right hand suddenly flicked, tossing the flower hoe with tremendous force. A crisp "crack" echoed as a thin stone slab beneath the white flowers shattered, sending dirt flying everywhere with petals scattering and dust swirling in chaotic clouds.
When the dust settled, beneath the flower cluster was revealed a stone coffin.
Hua Wuyan's expression changed dramatically as he retreated three steps. Tang Lici stepped his left foot into the pit and reached in with his right hand, grabbing what lay inside the stone coffin.
With a collective gasp, the masked azure figures all retreated. The stone coffin clearly contained a corpse—bones that had long since lost their flesh.
Tang Lici was genuinely stunned. A stone coffin containing bones wasn't particularly strange, but this was beneath the flowers, the supposed medicine hiding place—why would there be a corpse here?
However, as the bones were lifted, a package fell from the corpse's chest with a heavy "thud," spilling many medicine bottles across the bloodied ground.
Tang Lici stepped forward deliberately. The masked azure figures all stopped, their eyes fixed intensely on the medicine bottles scattered before them like precious jewels. He smiled slightly, lightly kicking with his toe to send three to five pill bottles rolling gently into the crowd.
The crowd immediately erupted in chaos.
One person dove desperately to grab them, and in an instant, short blade light flashed with a terrible scream as that person was struck by dozens of blades and died on the spot, his body twitching in a spreading pool of blood.
With blades seeing blood so readily, the masked azure figures looked at each other with dawning horror, some already emitting low growls from beneath their face coverings—animal sounds of greed and fear mingled together.
Tang Lici smiled at Hua Wuyan with calculating satisfaction, lightly kicking again with his toe to send another three to five pill bottles rolling out. These were ordinary gray medicine bottles, but in others' eyes, they were heart-stoppingly precious—worth killing for, worth dying for.
One pill bottle rolled directly to Hua Wuyan's feet.
Hua Wuyan took a deep breath, his composure finally cracking. "You insisted on finding the medicine hiding place just for…"
Tang Lici planted his flower hoe in the ground with deliberate ceremony, his smile warm and elegant despite the carnage surrounding him. "Things must decay before worms can bore into them. To level the Yu family sword manor, how could one begin without this?"
Hua Wuyan's eyebrows curved, revealing a smile tinged with admiration and horror. "Tang Lici, oh Tang Lici, you're truly remarkable, but don't you realize that once you seize this medicine, Fengliu Shop will be determined to kill you, and in the vast martial world, if there aren't eight hundred people eyeing this medicine covetously, there are at least one thousand. Seizing the Crimson Ghost Nine-Heart Pills means defying the entire world and standing in a place of certain death!"
Tang Lici lifted the package filled with medicine bottles, weighing it in his hand. "Even if I don't seize this medicine, after today, Fengliu Shop will still be determined to kill me."
Hua Wuyan sighed softly, a sound of genuine regret. "Why must someone like you wade into these muddy waters? How many people in the martial world live or die, or live half-dead—what does any of it have to do with you?"
He stood holding his sword stance, the Thirty-Three Assassins Formation around him already collapsed into chaos. The masked figures fought desperately over the medicine bottles on the ground, their earlier discipline completely abandoned. Though the two men's accumulated authority remained, and though Tang Lici held most of the pills in his hands, the masked figures dared not cross the invisible line to snatch them, fighting only over the few scattered bottles on the ground.
"The origin of the medicine in these bottles might be related to a good friend of mine," Tang Lici looked at Hua Wuyan and spoke slowly, his voice carrying unexpected weight. "I'm someone who treasures friends greatly… though perhaps it doesn't seem that way."
Hua Wuyan smiled—indeed it didn't seem that way at all. "That you would fight so desperately because these pills might be related to your friend is truly hard to imagine."
Tang Lici's smile didn't waver. "There are many hard-to-imagine things in the world… This medicine, you haven't taken it?"
Hua Wuyan shook his head and smiled with bared teeth. "I've taken it."
Tang Lici regarded him thoughtfully. "I heard this medicine is taken once every two years. If you seize a bottle, the enhanced martial skills won't be lost, and you can ensure decades of safety. For martial artists, gaining decades of safety isn't bad."
Hua Wuyan still shook his head, his expression turning melancholy. "I'm very resigned to fate. After taking the medicine, freedom becomes a fantasy."
Tang Lici's eyes moved as he glanced at the bones scattered on the ground. "Who is this person?"
"She's Yu Qifeng's mother," Hua Wuyan said with grim satisfaction. "The pills are hidden in Yu Qifeng's mother's tomb. In all the world, except for a death-defying eccentric like you, no one would dare touch this coffin in the slightest."
Tang Lici smiled appreciatively. "Admirable, admirable. So this was the plan. Was this Miss Hong's idea?"
Hua Wuyan said, "Of course… A woman's heart is unfathomable. Miss Hong is touching and moving, yet her schemes are no less than yours."
Tang Lici asked casually, "What is Miss Hong to your master?"
Hua Wuyan laughed heartily. "Guess?"
Tang Lici said without hesitation, "A servant."
Hua Wuyan exclaimed with genuine surprise, "How did you know?"
Tang Lici's lips curved slightly in a half-smile. "Perhaps I've seen too many women. With her bearing, she really doesn't seem like a master."
Having said this, he glanced again at the dark red tower with knowing eyes. "I guess after the stone coffin broke, Miss Hong is no longer in the tower."
Hua Wuyan said indifferently, "But I will fight to the death here."
Tang Lici looked at him with what might have been regret. "Your sword technique is beautiful. Draw your sword."
Hua Wuyan's sword stance had never changed. The sky gradually turned to dusk, painting the carnage in shades of amber and crimson. This young man's refined features were flower-like in beauty. A gentle breeze came, his clothes riding the wind like an unopened epiphyllum—delicate, pure, and destined to wither.
Tang Lici carried the heavy package, his left-hand blade gleaming gently in the setting sun's dying light. As Hua Wuyan thrust forward with his sword, he turned gracefully aside. "Clang" as blade met sword with familiar resonance.
Hua Wuyan sighed wordlessly, a sound that spoke volumes.
Someone sat up from the ground with a groan. "Sword techniques of Pingchuan Wuzhou—what a pity, what a pity. The boy hasn't mastered it yet. Such half-baked famous swordplay can't win against chaotic killing blade work."
Hua Wuyan was startled, glancing quickly to realize it was Xue Xianzi, who had been lying on the ground for so long, now climbing up again to sit aside and watch the show with the casual interest of a theater patron.
He continued his commentary cheerfully, "Hmm… you seem to be in a good mood today, actually letting him have more than three sword moves."
Tang Lici smiled without answering. His short blade techniques flowed smoothly, each movement economical and deadly. Though Hua Wuyan's sword momentum looked impressive, he couldn't attack within three feet of Tang Lici—an invisible barrier of skill separated them.
Just then, a tremendous "BOOM" shook the very heavens.
Tang Lici suddenly whirled around to see the entire sword hall roof explode upward, blasted dozens of zhang away in a spectacular eruption. In rolling smoke and dust, scattered fragments of human limbs and arms flew about in a grotesque rain. Some brick pieces and severed limbs were shocked into the sky, falling not far away with sickening thuds.
His face suddenly turned deathly pale.
Earlier he had said "What are Yu the Sword King's chances against Chi Yun and Shen Langhun?" and Miss Hong had answered "On the road to the Yellow Springs, having him accompany you—wouldn't that be good?"
There were spies in the dark red tower. Could Miss Hong's words have meant that even then she had issued a kill order, sacrificing Yu Qifeng to blow up the Yu family sword hall?
Were Chi Yun and Shen Langhun safe?
He suddenly turned back, his eyes gleaming with strangely cold light—a fury barely contained.
Hua Wuyan was laughing, laughing with terrible helplessness. "I told you a woman's heart is unfathomable. Miss Hong's schemes are no less heavy than yours… When you broke into the dark red tower, she already knew the Yu family sword manor was exposed and couldn't be kept unless she could kill you—but the Thirty-Three Assassins Formation and I lack the ability to kill you. Since we can't kill you, cutting off your wings is the necessary path. The only regret is that explosives were only available in the sword hall, otherwise we could have blown you up together, flesh and blood flying, alas and alack, hahaha…"
He laughed with heartbreaking sadness, swaying back and forth like a man drunk on grief. "It doesn't matter that you seized the pills, it doesn't matter that you made dozens of people from the Yu family sword manor fall apart, it doesn't even matter if you kill me, Hua Wuyan, but you said you're someone who treasures friends greatly, hahaha… You sent your friends to their deaths, you sent your friends to their deaths…"
Tang Lici's brow furrowed slightly as he gently bit his lip, a trace of anguish rising between his eyebrows like storm clouds gathering. "So that's how it is."
The back of his left hand holding the blade lightly pressed against his abdomen. "You stayed behind prepared to die?"
Hua Wuyan planted his sword in the ground with finality. "Blowing up the sword hall was my personal order… Are you satisfied?"
"If you want to die, fine." Tang Lici said with terrible calm.
He stepped forward with his blade, then another step, each movement deliberate. The evening's cool breeze brushed past his face, lifting several strands of black hair across his features like shadows. "After I kill you, I'll go save them."
Hua Wuyan rushed forward with a "swoosh" of his sword, putting everything into the strike.
Tang Lici no longer showed mercy. In a flash of the short blade, blood splattered across azure robes in arterial spray. Then sword light exploded like moonlight shooting skyward in blinding brightness. The blade gleamed crystalline, rich blood color filling the blade body until it seemed to pulse with stolen life. With a "crack," blood pooled three feet on the ground, winding like a crimson dragon.
Xue Xianzi had vanished without a trace when the explosion sounded earlier—unknown whether he had fled for his life or gone to rescue people.
The cold sound of weapons clashing filled the air, wordless blade light and sword shadows dancing in the dying light. Suddenly a string sound rang out, gentle as spring water's low chant, flowing out from somewhere unseen.
Hua Wuyan, now covered in blood that painted his refined features in horror, heard the sound and smiled sadly, swinging his sword again with renewed desperation.
Tang Lici heard the sound and turned back sharply as sword wind swept past his face, cutting several strands of hair. Black hair drifted down to mix with blood and cold steel.
Hua Wuyan stepped forward, leaping up to thrust himself and his sword toward Tang Lici's chest opening in a suicidal strike. Tang Lici spun in a great revolution to evade the worst of it. Hua Wuyan's sword momentum seemed more fierce than before, matching that gentle shallow singing of strings, every sword seeking life in perfect rhythm…
In blade light and blood shadows, someone nearby plucked strings and sang with haunting beauty:
"Azure lotus fate, white water song, Pingchuan Wuzhou sword's name. Pity a life loving poison grass, mediocrity not learning sword, betraying kindness. Beauty's affinity, betraying beauty, master's righteousness, betraying master, walking empty roads breaking night cherry…"
The song was mournful, the singer giving voice with full emotion, extremely moving and willful in its raw grief. Tears fell from Hua Wuyan's eyes as he fought, dropping into the blood pool below like rain.
Tang Lici's blade light flowed like silk, beautiful and deadly. Closing his eyes, one stroke pierced cleanly through Hua Wuyan's heart.
A mournful cry tore through the air—the man fell to the ground like a puppet with cut strings.
The strings rang out, singing to the line "…brushing full life all falls as snow, return return, return his body naturally pure."
Hua Wuyan fell to the ground, and the song ceased, as if no one was anywhere around—only silence and death remained.
"Why do you seek death?" Tang Lici asked quietly, his blade still pierced through Hua Wuyan's heart, falling to the ground with him, not yet withdrawn.
Hua Wuyan lay flat on the ground, gazing upward. The sky had darkened, and several stars could be faintly seen on the horizon—distant, cold, indifferent. "I… I am…" He laughed weakly. "An unworthy son, ungrateful all my life, not learning sword, practicing poison grass, entering Fengliu Shop, taking Crimson Ghost Nine-Heart Pills… all my willful actions, abandoning my wife, angering my master to death. I have no path of return… haha, brushing full life all falls as snow, return return, return his body naturally pure…"
He slowly closed his eyes, a faint smile on his bloodied lips. "The Honored Master is truly so… understanding… of people's hearts…"
The blood no longer flowed.
He was gone.
Tang Lici set him down gently and stood up abruptly, his gaze snapping to the dark red tower where that person sat in the building, playing the horizontal qin with disordered fingers.
What kind of "Honored Master" of Fengliu Shop could treat a subordinate's death as a grand dance, singing passionately for it while not considering the corpses everywhere as anything important? What kind of person possessed such cold beauty?
He picked up the package of Crimson Ghost Nine-Heart Pills and headed toward the sword hall ruins with determined strides.
Tang Lici.
In the dark red tower, someone wore a black veil over their face, back turned to the window, qin horizontal on their lap, playing with disordered fingers that betrayed emotion despite the controlled posture.
A gentle and beautiful mask, extraordinarily cruel and ruthless—very much like someone from the past.
But that person was already dead. Murdered people cannot come back to life.
He hadn't watched the process of Hua Wuyan's death, nor looked at Tang Lici once. From beginning to end, he had kept his back to the battle, concentrating wholly on plucking strings and singing. Song, if not performed with full emotion and strength, cannot be pure—cannot carry the weight of a life ending.
"Honored Master, this place is dangerous. If Chi Yun and Shen Langhun aren't dead and the three return to intercept, escape will be difficult," Miss Hong said softly, her voice barely above a whisper. She had changed clothes and now held a candle stand to illuminate the black-veiled figure.
"Let's go," the black-veiled figure said with quiet finality. "After they leave, bury him properly."
"Yes," Miss Hong said quietly, silently carrying the candle toward the tower's underground passage.
The black-veiled figure abandoned the horizontal qin in the tower and walked slowly down, each step measured and deliberate. Both figures quickly disappeared into the depths of the tunnel, swallowed by shadows and secrets.
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